Central East Maui’s All-Star squad is bringing a championship again to the Valley Isle.
The staff of 12- and 13-year-olds stormed to the U.S. Intermediate Division title with a 7–3 comeback win over Louisiana on Saturday evening at Max Baer Park in Livermore, California.
Louisiana jumped out to a 3–0 lead, however Maui refused to blink. A five-run explosion within the fourth inning flipped the sport on its head, and two extra within the fifth sealed it. Pitchers Hayden Takahashi and Evan Tavares stored the Louisiana bats in examine, holding them to simply three runs.
The victory got here simply days after Maui blanked the identical Louisiana squad 7–0, a sport highlighted by three dwelling runs, together with a grand slam from Tavares. “I believed it was a pop fly, but it surely ended up going over the fence,” he mentioned with a smile. “I used to be tremendous glad.”
The roster, Brextyn Hong, Cam Kaneshiro, Gabriel Laloulu, Kamalei Leynes-Santos, Kolten Magno, Eassie “Kaiehu” Miller, Kanon Nakama, Gauge Pacheco, Jet Pontes, Takahashi, Kellen Takamura, Tavares, and Matthew Yang, represents a number of Maui faculties, proving expertise runs deep throughout the island. Coaches Kory Takamura and Lester Nakama, together with supervisor Brendan Fujii, guided the group to glory.
Whereas the U.S. crown was theirs, the world title slipped away. Dealing with Venezuela within the Worldwide Championship, Maui plated seven runs within the first inning, however Venezuela roared again for a 12–7 win. Nonetheless, for Central East Maui, 2025 might be remembered because the summer time they conquered the nation.
