Breathless finish
puts Aiea on top

It could only be called a heartstopper.

The Aiea baseball team playing a Venezuelan team for the title in the Junior League World Series in Michigan was down 5-3 with two out in the bottom of the ninth with a runner on base. Shane Koga was called to pinch hit and nailed a home run over the left-field fence to tie the score. Kepa Wong was up next and lined another homer over the right-field fence to win the game.

"Last year, I didn't make this team," Wong said later. "I worked harder this year, I made it and we won."

It sounds like a lot of people won -- Koga, Wong, the rest of the boys on the Aiea team, their coaches, their teachers and especially their parents who taught them one of the toughest lessons of life: Never give up.

Richard Halloran

---