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JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Ewa Beach pitcher Vonn Feao shook hands with a fan at yesterday's Parade of Baseball Champions in Waikiki honoring baseball heroes of all ages, including the 2005 Little League world champions from Ewa Beach. Also pictured at right is Feao's teammate Harrison Kam.

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‘All of Hawaii
is proud of our
champions’

The West Oahu Little League
world champs are honored
in a parade down Kalakaua

With a halo of late afternoon sunshine crowning him, Ty Tirpak, the right fielder for the West Oahu Little League team that just won the World Series, smiled shyly at the idea his hometown would hold a parade in their honor right down the center of Kalakaua Avenue.

"It's pretty cool," said Tirpak, 12, who has been playing baseball since he was 4 years old. "It's pretty big. I didn't think this many people would be here for a Little League team."

With high school cheerleader squads chanting and bands warming up, Tirpak and his teammates, dressed in white and navy uniforms, each boarded a vintage roadster or convertible with family members yesterday afternoon for the "Parade of Baseball Champions 2005."

Local families and tourists lined the street cheering, waving at a team that has brought feel-good news home at a time when the nation seems weary by the testing of terror, war and the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which brought out the best and worst in people.

"This is good news for once," said Mayor Mufi Hannemann of the West Oahu team's 7-6 victory Aug. 28 over Curacao, which made them world champions. Hannemann organized the parade that also included 10 baseball and softball teams from across the state that won various championships.

"All of Hawaii is proud of our champions," he said.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Ewa Beach's Vonn Feao flashed a shaka during yesterday's Parade of Baseball Champions through Waikiki.

JAMM AQUINO / JAQUINO@STARBULLETIN.COM Before the parade, Layson "Kaeo" Aliviado shook hands with former Major League Baseball pitcher Mike Fetters as Mayor Mufi Hannemann, right, and teammate Ty Tirpak looked on.

"I played Little League in Ewa Beach, but we were never as good as these guys. We always lost to Waianae," joked Fetters, who most recently pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks and, before that, the Minnesota Twins.

"This is awesome. I had to come back for it," Fetters said. "If you forget where you came from, you lose your way in life. I started in Ewa Beach."

Former University of Hawaii baseball coach Les Murakami, who also rode in the parade, smiled as he watched the teams get ready for the parade.

"Tremendous. This team won because it just had the intestinal fortitude and never gave up," said Murakami, who coached about 500 players in a career spanning 1971 to his retirement in 2001.

"This team believed it could win," Murakami said. "This team also had the talent and the magic."

Murakami praised the coaches who stayed calm, kept the team calm and focused on the game.

"I just hope the kids and their parents keep their perspective," he said. "These kids need to hit the books and study so they can do well and go to college and play in college."

Mike Trapasso, UH's head baseball coach, dismissed questions about who he would recruit from the West Oahu team.

"Oh, it's way too early," he said with a laugh, "but I never had so much fun watching a game of baseball."