LIHUE — The Kawaihau Community Little League Minors Gold all stars said it all — exhaustion tinged with a hint of sunburn, but happy — Tuesday night at the Lihue Airport.
“We’re missing four players, but this is the force we went with,” said Casey Tupou, the team mom and a board member of the Kawaihau Community Little League while the team’s coaches assembled the 53 pieces of luggage following a long day on the North Shore of Oahu. “We booked the last flight because if we had lost the first game, we would have had to play a second game in the afternoon. We won the first match against Honolulu, 6-3. But we were on the North Shore so we just slogged it out until the flight.”
The victory over Honolulu Little League, Kawaihau Minors Gold’s second, earned the team of 8 to 10 year-0lds the Hawaii State Little League Minor championship pennants, both of which were securely packed among the luggage.
“This means we went through the championship tournament, undefeated,” Casey said. “Friday, we opened against Honolulu and won, 16-3. Saturday was a big win over Waipio, 5-2, and Sunday, we took North Hawaii 21-5.”
The win over North Hawaii meant a break on Monday before facing Honolulu for the whole shot, Tuesday at 12:30 p.m.
“If we had lost that match, we would have had to play a second game,” Casey said. “Fortunately, we won behind the pitching of Zaedyn Tupou who started. We got an inning from Sami Kauvaka, and Kimo Kupihea finished. Normally, Zaedyn hits homeruns and leads the hitting. But he had no home runs in the final game.”
With the state pennant secured, the team disbands for the 2018 season after the all-star team went through the District 1 (there are five Districts in the Hawaii State Little League) undefeated.
“They’re not going anywhere else,” Casey said. “The state championship is as high as the team reaches in the Minors division, but the future for these boys is great because once they reach 12 years old, they become Majors. Right now, all they want to do is take a bath and sleep.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
