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Hawaii Completes World Series Run As U.S. Runner-Up
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 Four tournaments and 15 games later, the Hawaii State Big League
Champions from Aiea, Halawa, and Kaimuki end the season as the U.S. Runner-Up in World
Series Tournament play. The 15 players and three coaches representing Hawaii
District 6 began their quest on July 16 and ended their journey nearly a month later as
one of only two teams left in the U.S. tournament bracket. A well deserved
congratulations goes out to Manager Dickie Titcomb, coaches Craig Arakawa and Dennis
Okano, and of course the players who gave their utmost and their highest to represent
their state to the best of their ability on and off the field. They finished the
post-season with a 12-3 record outscoring their opponents 90-55 taking all of their losses
by a total of four runs. They represented six different public and private high
schools with all but one player having graduated by this past June. Many of the boys will
go on to college, some on scholarship. They played in three different states and
were housed in everything from hotels to dorms to people's homes. On the way they
met some wonderful people from the Treasure state of Montana, many of whom continued to
follow the teams progress in the Regionals and World Series.
 The team was met in the
Regionals by Dickie's wife Dale who brought, along with her luggage, several coolers and
boxes of, what else...food. Local food. Sweet sour pork, beef stew, lomi
salmon, chicken long rice, and of course, a rice cooker. A big one. With the
tremendous gastronomical support, the boys took the Western Regional tournament, held this
year in the San Francisco Giants spring training facility in Scottsdale, AZ, and moved on
to World Series play.
The World Series was held this year in Tucson, AZ which is about an hour and a half from
Scottsdale. Playing five games in as many days, the team played their hearts out
showing the kind of spirit expected of champions. But in the end they came up one
run short of a World Series title game. Friends, family, and all of Hawaii can be
proud of their boys for competing at such a high level. They were never intimidated
by any circumstance and they never gave up. To the players, coaches, parents and
supporters, thanks for the ride! |
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| Notes: |
| - There will be more pictures to come by
the end of this weekend so stay tuned. All of the prints will then be sent to Hawaii
for the boys and their families to keep. |
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