WILLIAMSPORT, PA. — Championship dreams are high for the Honolulu team as it looks for its third Little League World Series title in eight years.
The first day of activities is meant to introduce teams to the area. Along with all the competitors, Honolulu Little League was shuttled to a local college campus for a picnic. The group met with players and coaches from other teams, along with getting to chat with the media. After being treated to food and games, the kids met with MLB Hall of Famer Billy Wagner.
Teams were then hustled down the street and loaded onto floats that traveled into downtown Williamsport. The 12-block route is lined with fans tossing balls and bats to players for autographs.
“It’s really cool meeting all the teams from different countries,” Mason Mitani said. “It’s just a great experience overall.”
Manager Gerald Oda, a two-time Little League World Series champion, knows it will be a difficult challenge, but he also understands the value of experiencing unique events like that one that kicked off the tournament Tuesday. As important as a title is, Oda also wants his players to enjoy a rare moment in life surrounded by cultures from all over the world.
“It’s important for them to play the game, but the reward for them is all this interaction,” Oda said. “It’s not often 12 kids from Hawaii get to interact with kids from all over the world. It’s important for them to see that good people are all over.”
Oda’s third trip obviously has championship standards, but for him to push the focus on building more than players says a lot about the Honolulu Little League manager.
“There’s a need for them to understand that it’s a big world out there,” Oda said. “If they take the risk and meet new kids, then the world becomes a little smaller for them. It’s something that we stress to the kids to take advantage of.”
That’s not to say Honolulu doesn’t want to compete well, representing its state and showing the world why the expectations are sky high.
Unlike some teams entering this year’s Series, Honolulu Little League has quite a high standard when it comes to Little League baseball. In 2018, Honolulu Little League defeated South Seoul Little League 3-0 for its first title. Honolulu Little League returned in 2022, claiming the title again with a 13-3 win over Pabao Little League.
“I feel a lot of that pressure,” Hulili Kauahikaua said.
Despite the bar being high and the pressure to perform being real, Honolulu Little League has ways to deal with the stress. Even the 11- and 12-year-old players navigating a world championship tournament for the first time seem to have a plan.
“Just breathing and telling myself I can do this,” Kauahikaua said of dealing with the pressure. “Everybody at home is going to be watching us. It’s going to be awesome.”
That support has helped the Honolulu team survive some difficult challenges to reach Williamsport. Unlike the previous teams, Honolulu will be led by a deep pitching staff this time around.
“The strength of the team is definitely the pitching,” Kauahikaua said. “The pitching has definitely carried us through the tournaments.”
Pitching has always been good, but the 2018 and 2022 teams shined on the offensive end, especially in 2022, when Honolulu became the last team to 10-run-rule an opponent in the world championship.
“We didn’t have a lot of hits, but we did hit when it really counted,” said Kauahikaua, who hit a home run in the West Regional. “We just found a way to push through it and get the win.”
Oda and company are looking at it as a positive. Northern and Southern California pushed them to the brink, but those three tests will pay dividends when Honolulu opens play Friday against either the Metro or Southwest at 1 p.m.
“We aren’t as powerful as the 2018 or 2022 team,” Oda said. “What commonality they do have is they are scrappy and they are fighting. They love each other and they bought into the ‘We greater than me’ that we have on our jerseys. It’s something we are very proud of about these kids.”
Logan Brokaw, who was the starting pitcher in Honolulu Little League’s extra-inning win over Northern California in regionals, echoed those thoughts, showing how much the team has bought into Oda and his coaches’ philosophy.
“It’s always for the people,” Brokaw said. “It’s not about us.”
Honolulu Little League will have plenty of chances to meet people from cultures across the planet. For them, the job will be to show the rest of the world how good the team and people of Honolulu Little League can be on and off the field.
With everything swirling around them, pressure mounting to perform, and a high standard by championship teams, Honolulu might be the most prepared to deal with the different elements playing half a world away from home.
“I think it’s a lot cooler here,” Kauahikaua said on one of Williamsport’s hottest days of the summer. At least that the heat won’t be a problem for the boys from Hawaii.
Source: The Garden Island