Sports

UPDATE: Hawaii falls short against Japan in Little League World Series Game.

Waipio, Hawaii beat Pearland, Texas today for the United States Championship after doing the same to Georgia on Friday. Not only did the team from Hawaii continue its amazing run, it used the mercy rule to defeat the Texas team in only five innings.

Shorthanded with regards to its pitching staff, Hawaii called on their little lefty dynamite Ezra Heleski. Not only did he pitch a great game against a very powerful Texas team, he pitched a five-inning two-hitter. His offensive stats weren’t bad either, as he had two run-scoring singles and also scored the game-ending run on a wild pitch.

With so many people contributing offensively it is hard to name a MVP for the game. In my opinion it has to be Heleski. With their top-three pitchers unavailable to pitch, Heleski pitched a game for the ages. Without that performance they would be going home.

Contributing to the run-scoring onslaught Kaimana Bartolome hit a 2-run double and Noah Shackles added a 2-run homer. Kahoea Akau started the rally with his first of three hits. The final score of the game was 10-0.

Waipio, Hawaii has now won 5 straight elimination games and turns its sights on Japan. Japan came from behind and ended up wining in extra innings against a Chinese Taipei team that was considered to be the best team in the tournament.

If Waipio can win tomorrow it will be the third time that the state of Hawaii has won the LLWS in the last 6-years. Ewa Beach in 2005 and Waipio in 2008 were the other two teams to do it.

The championship game can be seen tomorrow on ABC (KITV 4 for local residents) at 3 PM Eastern Time (9AM Hawaii Time).

Though not scoring another hole-in-one like she did yesterday, Michelle Wie managed to maintain her 3-stroke lead going into the weekend at the Canadian Open. Wie shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to stay 3-strokes ahead of Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who had a second-round 67.

Yesterday Wie had her ace on the par-3 11th during her first-round 65, a course record for a women’s competition. “I tried. Didn’t work out,” Wie said with a smile of not repeating the ace. “Compared to (Thursday), nothing was that dramatic.”

Wie is looking – and by all accounts feeling, extremely confident in her game right now. She is going to have to play the weekend like she played the first two days of the tournament, as she has some pretty heavy hitters breathing down her neck.

The little league all stars from Waipio Hawaii continued their magical run today by pounding Georgia and advancing to the United States title game against Texas. After losing their opening game to this same Georgia team, Hawaii has won every game it has played.

This is the first time in LLWS history that the same teams have faced each other three times in pool play to see who advances to the Championship Game. Hawaii has played every game since opening day as an elimination game, and they have come out on top every time.

We have seen a little of everything from these little guys with huge hearts from the islands. It has been noted over and over on ESPN during the telecasts that this team from Hawaii is not very big at all, especially when compared to the recent teams from Hawaii that have won it all. Georgia is one of the bigger and more powerful teams in this year’s pool, yet Hawaii continually battled back, showing the hearts of giants along the way.

It didn’t look very promising as Georgia jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Hawaii quickly countered though with 4 runs of its own in the bottom of the third and tied the game up going into the final three innings. The wildness started when Hawaii runner Ty DeSa was called out trying to steal second. The play was challenged and overturned by the umpires and that led to him eventually scoring on a wild pitch.

Waipio took a 7-4 in the bottom of the fourth on a Ty DeSa double that broke a 4-4 tie. Hawaii then capitalized on an error by Georgia and took that 7-4 lead into the fifth.

After Georgia put a run up in the fifth to close the gap to 7-5, Hawaii busted the game wide open in their bottom of the fifth. DeSa singled in a run and Shiloh Baniaga hit a two-run single through a drawn-in infield for a 10-5 lead. Kaimana Bartolome’s bloop single made it 11-5. A passed ball made it 12-5.

Georgia went down 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth and the celebration started. Hawaii now moves on to play Texas for the United States Championship tomorrow (Saturday). That game will be at 4PM Eastern Time (10AM Hawaii Time) on ESPN. It will follow the International Championship, which starts at 7AM Hawaii Time. If Hawaii wins they would play in the LLWS Championship Game on Sunday. That game would air on either ESPN or ABC. Go Hawaii!

Team Roster:
Manager Brian Yoshii
Coach Kiha Akau
Coach Jason Heleski
Kahoea Akau
Shiloh Baniaga
Kaimana Bartolome
Matthew Campos
Ty DeSa
Ezra Heleski
Dane Kaneshiro
Tyler Kushima
Cody Maltezo
Justice Nakagawa
Keolu Ramos
Noah Shackles
Brysen Yoshii

Michelle Wie did a little bit of everything during the opening round of the Canadian Open, that includes dropping a hole-in-one on the par-3 11^{th at} the St. Charles Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Wie fired a first-round 65, which left her standing in first-place with a -7. She is 3-strokes clear of Sarah Kemp going into the second round tomorrow. Wie was on fire today, carding 3-birdies on the front nine and 3-birdies on the back nine. Those birdies were mixed in with her ace on the 11^th hole. She only had one bogey during opening round play.

Right now Wie is ranked 12^th in the world and is 20th on the money list with $329,659. She has played in 14 events this year and has missed the cut only once. She has three top ten finishes this year, but is still looking for a victory. By Michelle Wie standards her year has been sub par. She has not been in the top en of any tournament since May.

Will this be her first victory or will she falter as she has in the past?

UPDATE: They’ve done it!! Hawaii beats Georgia to advance to the finals.

Just like all their other games have been since Georgia beat them the first day, Hawaii was once again playing for its LLWS life. The result? The same as the last two times, they came out on top.

If Hawaii loses at all its LLWS title hopes will be over. They faced Georgia earlier today and played like a true contender. After falling victim to Georgia in its first game of the tournament, Hawaii bounced back with a huge victory, beating that same Georgia team this time 7-4. This victory sets up a “do or die” game tomorrow at 2PM Eastern Time (8AM Hawaii Time). The opponent will again be Georgia, as Hawaii will have to beat them again if they want to advance to the United States Championship on Saturday.

One day after producing only one hit, the All Stars from Waipio pounded out 10 hits this after noon. The bats exploded with a much-needed wake up call. Justice Nakagawa hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the third and Noah Shackles struck out nine to lead the team from Hawaii. Hawaii was up 7-1 going into the bottom of the sixth. Georgia rallied a bit but relief pitcher Keolu Ramos came on and finished the game by inducing a groundout.

Waipio, Hawaii will continue their excellent run tomorrow at 8AM Hawaii Time. The game will be telecast on either ESPN or ESPN2. Be there to root them on!

BJ Penn will finally get a much-anticipated rematch with Frankie Edgar this Saturday and the lightweight belt will ne on the line. This is a big chance for Penn to recapture the belt, as well as a chance to prove he can beat Edgar.

The last time these two faced-off was in Abu Dhabi and the fight was won by decision. Talk to any UFC fan and they will tell you point blank… UFC fans don’t like decisions, they like knockouts and submissions. The fact still remains though; Frankie Edgar was the better fighter that evening. BJ Penn is one of the greatest fighters on the world, and probably the greatest lightweight up to date in mixed martial arts. That being said, Edgar was faster, better conditioned and much crisper in the ring that night in Abu Dhabi.

The consensus going around is that Frankie Edgar s going to come out on top in this fight again. Let’s hope that’s not true. In a recent interview BJ Penn stated that he has done some “heavy resting” to get prepared for this fight. While most of us will brush that off to a reverse psychology remark to get into the head of Edgar, anyone who follows Penn knows that he has dealt with conditioning questions and issues in the past.

Whatever happens that night it should be a great fight. Both fighters seem primed and ready. As usual Penn will have the islands behind him. Let’s hope he can bring the belt back home after Saturday is done.

Fight Info
Saturday August 28^th @ 10PM Eastern Time (4PM Hawaii Time)
TD Garden in Boston, MA
Go to UFC.com to find out how you can watch the fight.

UPDATE: Waipio Beats Georia forces another game.

In an elimination game against Ohio, the Waipio, Hawaii Little League team staged one of the more amazing comebacks you will ever see – at least from a statistical comeback. Down 4-0 with their backs against the wall, Hawaii used a 6-run bottom of the fourth to claim victory and move on in its quest for the LLWS title.

Trailing 4-0 going into the bottom of the fourth, Hawaii took advantage of walks, hit batsmen and wild pitching. Hawaii scored its first run on a groundball that should have been a double play. The ball was bobbled and led to only one out. Matthew Campos stepped up to the plate and with two runners on belted an opposite field homerun that tied the game. Two more runs would score on wild pitches and walks. Hawaii took a 6-4 lead going into the final innings and held on for the victory.

Hawaii had scored 6 runs on 1 hit. 1 hit! The hit ended up being their only hit of the game, as the Ohio pitching didn’t allow anything else. The game ended with that score and Hawaii will play-on. They will now face a Georgia team that already beat them 6-2 in their opening game. Hawaii will have to win twice to advance to the United States Championship game.

The Hawaii-Georgia game will be televised on ESPN 2 tomorrow at 7PM Eastern Time (1Pm Hawaii Time). Be there to root the boys on.

Today, Wednesday, August 25, 2010 is the third consecutive lay day for the Billabong Pro in Teahupoo, Tahiti.  Today was probably the smallest thus far, so the contest was called off.

Swell is predicted to be building through the next 72 hours.  Surfline, the official forecasters for the Billabong Pro Tahiti are predicting long period southwest swell slowly building on Thursday and Friday.

29 year old Mick Fanning (AUS), is the reigning ASP World Champion and currently #6 on this year’s World Tour.  Last year’s 2009 Billabong Pro winner was Bobby Martinez (USA), who beat runner up Taj Burrow (AUS) in 3-5 foot waves.  Anticipation is building and hopefully soon the surf will too.  Contest officials, surfers, and spectators are patiently waiting for mother nature to make its move.

UPDATE: Check out the results as Hawaii beats Ohio in a comeback and will face Georgia again.

The Waipio little league team that survived their first game in the losers bracket by beating Toms River, New Jersey after suffering a first round loss to Georgia will have to wait another day before they come out swinging again against the loser of the game that was to be played on Monday.

The game was to be played between Hamilton, Ohio, and Columbus, Ga, that same Georgia team that the Waipio Little League team lost to on Saturday. There’s hopes for the young baseballers to still win out as they did in 2008.

Today, Georgia continued it’s run by beating Ohio 6-0 with a couple of homers. Tomorrow Hawaii will face Ohio before a possible rematch against the 2006 winners of the LLWS Georgia who they’ll have to overcome before claiming the crown this year.

Alex Aguera and others from Maui made the trek to Kailua Beach Park for the first of hopefully many to come kiteraces. The wind was light, probably closer to 12 knots than it was to 15 knots at times but the racers were out in full force.

It was a lot of fun and there were plenty of people to watch. Results are listed below the pictures. Enjoy!!!

Winners for
Women:
1st Raquel de Lima Cruz
2nd Karlie Thoma
3rd Natasha Gronski

Course Board –
1st – Alex Aguera
2nd – Kai Lenny
3rd – John Amundson
4th – Josh Seymour
5th – Graham Botlz

Surf –
1st – Mike Scott
2nd – Tony Groman
3rd – Monte Bell
4th – Samuel Perez
5th – Devin Moody

Bidirecional -
1st – Michael James Smith
2nd – Samuel Perez
3rd – Davis McClure
4th – Devin Moody
5th – Kevin Wade