Their summer-long magic carpet ride has ended, but the Central East Maui Little League All-Stars are unlikely to forget it.
Maui lost 5-0 to Danville (California) Little League in Saturday’s Intermediate 50/70 World Series US Championship game in Livermore, California.
The Valley Isle Nine ended the tournament 4-2. Both losses went to eventual world champion Danville’s team — the first was 13-0 in five innings last Monday, and then Maui won three straight elimination games to reach the national championship game.
“It’s been a nice trip, man.” Maui manager Chris Kish said by phone shortly after the game. “You can not ask for more. It was tough today, but we definitely played a lot better than last time. We persevered until the end.”
Kish said he will always cherish this summer even though he and the team have been away for almost a month.
“Some questionable things have happened, but we won’t go into them.” he said. “All the adversity of the last month and a half has really turned these guys into young men. They’re making progress in their lives and they can really build on that as they go into high school and some of them even into college.
“They’ve already been in the spotlight and I think they’ll be able to carry that composure with them as they move on.”
The team of 12 and 13 year olds, coaching staff and fans are scheduled to return home from San Francisco on United flight 1725 at 11:20am today.
Alika Kish, Kaniela Belena, Jayden Perry-Waikiki, Riley Phillips, George Dafun Jr., Teyvon Kahalewai, Marcus Mamuad, Koltyn Sergent, Kekoa Brown, Kapono Easley, Nainoa Haban, Malu Rosaga and Isaac Gosselin will all be eighth graders or freshmen if they come home – school started here last week.
Coaches included Koa Brown and Joseph Gosselin.
Maui won the West Region crown on July 28 in Nogales, Arizona — they began playing there on July 20, a week after capturing the state crown on Oahu.
This group is the third from Maui to make the world bottom four at this level – teams from Wailuku won the 2016 world title and the 2017 national crown.
“School has already started, so we have to jam home.” said Chris Kisch. “These guys have been able to continue a legacy that was ingrained a generation before them. They fulfill the legacy that Maui’s hard work and amazing coaches have produced over the years.”
* Robert Collias can be reached at [email protected].
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