Rise and shine: Hilo gets morning gem from Mondina
By Matt Shetler
For the Observer-Reporter
The game plan for Hilo, Hawaii, in the Pony League World Series is been a simple one.
Win with pitching.
After allowing only one run in their opening win against Chesterfield, Va., Hilo stuck to that same formula Monday morning as left-hander Resse Mondina threw a gem against Los Mochis, Mexico.
Mondina tossed a three-hit complete game shutout, struck out six and kept the ball on the ground. Los Mochis managed to hit only three balls out of the infield as Hilo cruised to a 9-0 victory at Lew Hays Pony Field.
“I just threw strikes and gave my defense a chance to make plays,” said Mondina.
The 10 a.m. start didn’t help Los Mochis as Hilo took advantage of some sloppy defense by the Mexico Zone champion.
Hilo got things done by playing small ball early in the game, four runs in the game’s first four innings while generating only three hits.
The West Zone champion scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning on an RBI-groundout by Eric Riveira and a throwing error. Hilo added a third run in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Kahale Huddleston Jr.
“That’s the game plan,” Hilo manager Stacey Jarneski said. “We will wait for you to make mistakes and capitalize on them. If we don’t make many mistakes, and wait for the other team to make errors and then take advantage of them, then we should be fine.”
Hilo scored again in the fourth to make it 4-0 when David Nakamura doubled, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Micah Bello.
Hilo tacked on one more run in the fifth without the benefit of a hit. Los Mochis reliever Eduardo Chan had trouble finding the strike zone as three walks and three wild pitches made it a 5-0 game.
Hilo blew the game open later in the fifth, when Trayden Tamiya hit n run-scoring single to right field and Nakamura delivered the big blow, a two-run double, to push the lead to 8-0.
Two errors and six wild pitches on the day were too much to overcome, but Los Mochis didn’t stand much of a chance against Mondina, who was in complete control.
“He pitched a fantastic game,” said Jarneski. “He was pretty dominant from the first pitch on. That’s the second time he delivered an outing like that in a big game. Our catcher, Dallas Duarte, called a great game and our infield made all the plays.”