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Maui hangs tough, rallies to beat Laredo

4 min read
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By David Whipkey

For The Observer-Reporter

In baseball, like in any other sport, it is not how you start, but how you finish.

Using the long ball and stable pitching, Maui, Hawaii, overcame shaky defense and, at times, spotty base running to defeat Laredo, Texas, 6-5 at Lew Hays Field Monday in the nightcap of the 2016 Pony League World Series.

The Hawaiian squad trailed 5-1 in the third inning before mounting its comeback. The West Zone champions will face the winner of the Bay County, Michigan/Laredo matchup scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today.

Laredo knocked off Bay County, 5-4, Saturday afternoon. The rematch will be an elimination contest.

Maui got back into the game using the home run and timely hitting, while Laredo’s potent attack went cold over the game’s final four innings.

With the game tied at 5-5 in the sixth, Bay County reliever pitcher Greg Campos immediately found trouble. Case Kalehuawehe singled to center and advanced to second on a throwing error to first. He moved to third on Kaipo Haole’s single to right field.

Andre Beaudoin then drove in his sixth run of the World Series with a line-drive single to center, scoring Kalehuawele and giving Maui its first lead.

For a long while, it appeared Bay County would be staying unbeaten.

Maui starting pitcher Roy Meinen worked around a leadoff single by Derrick Christman by inducing a 1-6-3 double play from Julio Cesar Taboada and striking out Sergio Galvan.

But Laredo pitcher Adrian Castillo was even more dominant at the start. Working his fastball over the outer edge of the plate, the righty fanned the first two hitters in a 1-2-3 bottom of the first.

Laredo again got the lead off man on in the top of the second when Guillermo Sauceda’s sharp grounder was misplayed. Sauceda then took advantage of a wild pitch and moved to second. Another Maui miscue occurred when catcher Kalehuawehe’s pick off throw eluded shortstop Kaipo Haole, allowing Sauceda to advance to third. He then scored on Castillo’s deep sacrifice fly to center field, giving Laredo a 1-0 lead.

Leading off the bottom of the second, Maui Beaudoin slapped a double down the third base line. Hanoli Caliva’s double advanced Beaudoin to third due to an apparent miscommunication between the lead runner and third base coach, leaving runners at second and third with one out.

It looked like Castillo might wriggle off the hook, as he recorded a strikeout for the second out, but Micah Kele lined a two-out base hit to right field that scored Beaudoin, tying the score at 1-1.

Meinen ran into trouble in the third inning when he hit Laredo leadoff hitter Alan Ferreryo, walked Alan Villareal on four pitches and allowed a single to Christman. Ferreryo scored Laredo’s second run on Taboada’s infield single. Laredo added two more runs when Beaudoin’s throw on Galvan’s grounder eluded the catcher, allowing Villarreal and Christman to score. Sauceda joined the parade with an RBI single that drove in Taboada, giving Laredo a 5-1 lead.

Maui again responded when leadoff hitter Isaiah Duarte greeted Castillo with a mammoth solo homer to left-center field to begin the bottom of the third. The Hawaiian squad cut the Laredo lead to 5-3 when Haole’s gap shot double brought home Kalehuawehe from first, who walked earlier in the inning. Castillo again showed his mettle by ending the threat with a strike out of pinch hitter Mochi Dukelow.

Maui then drew even when Kalehuawehe blasted a two-run home run to dead center off Castillo.

A scary moment occurred for Maui in the top of the fifth when with two outs, Sauceda launched a fly ball to right center field. Duarte and Palmeira collided while chasing the ball, allowing Sauceda to take third on the triple. Both fielders were shaken up, but stayed in the game. Meinen then induced a ground ball out to Campos, ending the Laredo threat.

Castillo then worked out of a two-on, two-out jam in the bottom of the fifth when he got Kele to fly out to center. He finished with eight strikeouts and five walks, allowing five runs on seven hits in five innings before giving way to Campos.

Meinen finished off the contest with a one-two-three top of the seventh. He recorded eight strikeouts with only one walk and two earned runs allowed.

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