THEY DID IT!

Waipio claims the Little League crown and a spot in the record book

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Waipio not only won the Little League World Series yesterday with a 12-3 drubbing of Matamoros, Mexico; the local youngsters did it in record-setting style.

The victory was the largest margin by a U.S. team over an International opponent in the history of the championship game. Waipio is also only the second team in Little League history to score in every inning of the title match. The first team to do it was Taiwan in 1974.

It is the second time in four years a Hawaii team won the biggest title in youth sports, with teams from Georgia winning the other two in that title stretch.

Tanner Tokunaga hit two homers to lead Hawaii's offense, and Caleb Duhay got the pitching win with 5 2/3 innings on the mound.

"I think we approached today as any other game: not too confident," Waipio manager Timo Donahue said last night in a phone interview. "We just thought about going in there and playing the way we've played."

Waipio scored early and often, taking a 3-0 lead in the second on a two-out home run by Tokunaga. He added a second homer in the fifth that keyed a four-run rally as Waipio pulled away to the lopsided victory.

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It’s Waipio’s world

Hawaii uses the long ball to crush Mexico and win the Little League World Series

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. » Tanner Tokunaga may have fallen behind on doing a few homework assignments while he was at the Little League World Series, but he sure didn't forget to make the most of his at-bats.

WAIPIO ROSTER No. Name 1 Matthew Yap 2 Kainoa Fong 3 Ulumano Farm 5 Christian Donahue 8 Iolana Akau 9 Trevor Ling 10 Jordan Ulep 12 Caleb Duhay 14 Jedd Andrade 15 Tanner Tokunaga 20 Pikai Winchester 21 Keelen Obedoza 25 Khade Paris Manager: Timo Donahue Coaches: Kiha Akau, Gregg Tsugawa

The Waipio Little Leaguer hit two home runs yesterday afternoon, while Iolana Akau also went deep and made a spectacular diving catch in right field as Waipio cruised over Matamoros, Mexico, 12-3, to secure Hawaii's second LLWS championship in four years.

As for the subjects he missed doing the homework in, he didn't have to think twice.

"All of them," Tokunaga said.

His first home run was easily gone out of center field in Lamade Stadium, giving Waipio an early 3-0 lead. His second one, in the fifth inning, wasn't so easy, barely going over the glove of the center fielder.

"It felt good to hit the (last) home run because it busted the game wide open," Tokunaga said. "It's pretty exciting that we are the world champs."

It was a drastic difference from Waipio's United States championship game Saturday, in which the team needed a six-run sixth-inning surge to rally from a 5-1 deficit against Louisiana.

No late-inning heroics were needed against Mexico.

Hawaii scored in every inning, only the second time in LLWS history that it has happened. The first came in 1974, when Taiwan did it.

Also, yesterday's win by Waipio was the largest by a U.S. team over an International opponent in the title game.

Tokunaga and Pikai Winchester each had two hits, while Tokunaga drove in three runs and ended with 11 RBI in the series.

"All along, it was just a matter of time for the bats to wake up," Waipio manager Timo Donahue said. "Each game, an additional bat woke up. But I didn't expect the differential of the final score."

It probably shocked most at the game, too.

Mexico, also undefeated through pool play and the International playoffs, had outscored opponents 38-8 -- four of those scored by Japan on Saturday -- and had been hitting close to .400 as a team.

With dominant pitcher Jesus Sauceda still available, manager Gustavo Gomez elected to throw Sergio Rodriguez instead. When Hawaii built up a 4-1 lead, the Matamoros skipper went with Sauceda, who threw a perfect game earlier in the tournament. But like all his pitching teammates on this day, he struggled to find the strike zone. Mexico pitchers walked nine batters and allowed several runs to cross home on wild pitches or passed balls.

"They got a good start," Gomez said through translator Sergio Guzman. "At the beginning of the game, Sergio told me he wasn't nervous. He's a great kid, but I could tell that he was nervous. It was the biggest game of these kids' lives."

In the opposite dugout, Caleb Duhay was his consistent self -- as he has been the entire LLWS.

He picked up his third victory of the tournament as he threw a six-hitter with seven strikeouts through 5 1/3 innings. Christian Donahue came in to record the final two outs.

"I wasn't nervous. I was actually pretty confident," Duhay said. "I thought I was throwing all of my pitches well."

Hawaii jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first after the first of three Matamoros errors allowed Christian Donahue to score. Tokunaga's two-run blast increased the lead to 3-0 before Sauceda's homer cut it to two.

The closest Mexico came after that was in the third when a two-out, two-run single to right by Eduardo Rodriguez trimmed the deficit to 4-3.

But a three-run fourth -- highlighted by Akau's home run, the first hit off of Sauceda in the LLWS -- and a four-run fifth all but sewed up the victory.

"I knew it was gone right off the bat," Akau smiled. "The Series was kind of rough for me to start because I got hit with the pitch in the first game. I knew that I wanted to come back and help my team."

While Hawaii was feasting on its 11 hits and capitalizing on Mexico errors, Duhay and his defense was nearly unblemished. Waipio committed one error in the game, and only three during the duration of the LLWS.

"He (Duhay) did a great job," Gomez said. "Naturally, when you have a nice lead like he had, it's a little easier out there. That's not taking anything away from his ability, because he is a nice pitcher. My hats off to their entire team because they were very good."

Waipio finished undefeated in the LLWS, and kept the U.S. winning streak alive -- extending it to four. It began with Ewa Beach in 2005, and was kept going by two Georgia teams in 2006 and 2007.

As for the reality of winning the world championship, Timo Donahue admits it hasn't sunk in -- for him or the players.

"I don't think they have realized what they have accomplished," the manager said. "I think once we step on the island, it's going to hit them. For everyone, it feels so surreal right now.

"I think this shows that there is a lot of good baseball played in Hawaii. Sometimes, though, our kids don't get noticed because we are so far away. I think Little League in Hawaii is going to continue to grow."

As for the future of the players, another Little League run isn't out of the question. This time, it would be the Junior Division for ages 13 and 14.

"It would be kind of nice to keep them all together," Timo Donahue said. "We may try the Junior League. That would be kind of fun because the kids can play with leads."

Waipio 12, Mexico 3 Hawaii 121 341 - 12 11 1 Mexico 012 000 - 3 6 3 Caleb Duhay, Christian Donahue (6) and Obedoza, Iolana Akau (1), Keelen Obedoza (2). Sergio Rodriguez, Jesus Sauceda (3), Klaus Muller (4), Eduardo Rodriguez (5) and Fernando Villegas, Eduardo Rodriguez (4), Villegas (5). W - Duhay (3-0). L - S. Rodriguez. HRs--Hawaii, Tokunaga 2, Akau. Mexico, Sauceda.