Central Maui ousted from regionals

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The Central Maui Little League All-Stars had a chance to take care of matters on their own. A win in their final pool game against Northern California would have put then into the semifinals of the Western Regionals.

But Loomis-Eureka jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held on for a 5-3 win, improving its tournament record to 4-0, outscoring its opponents by a 26-5.

The loss took Central Maui's fate out of its hands. Now, Maui needed some serious help in the form of a decisive victory by Arizona over Nevada in order to go through.

By the fifth inning of last night's game in San Bernardino, it appeared as if Central Maui's prayers were about to be answered.

Having allowed more than three runs, Nevada lost its chance to advance courtesy of a runs-allowed tie-breaker edge over the Maui boys. But Nevada then scored five in the seventh, rallying to a 12-9 victory that put it in the semis and knocked Central Maui out of contention.

Central Maui showed a lot of grit in its final outing. Rossi Abordo pitched brilliantly after coming on in relief. Noa Apolo hit his third homer of the tourney. And Central Maui loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the six before hitting into a game-ending grounder.

SOCCER: Hawaii's Brian Ching started for the US in its World Cup qualifying match at Mexico. The Americans jumped out to a 1-0 lead nine minutes in, but ended up suffering yet another loss at Azteca Stadium on a late goal as Mexico pulled out a 2-1 victory. The US is now 0-23-1 in games played in the 7,200-foot altitude of Mexico City.

SHANE GOES DEEP: Shane Victorino did his part in welcoming legendary right-hander Pedro Martinez in his debut for the Phillies on Wednesday. Victorino tripled in the first inning and homered in the third, scored twice and drove in a pair of runs in helping the Phillies to a 12-5 road romp past the Chicago Cubs. It was Victorino's ninth homer of the season and his eighth triple, tying him for second place in that category in the National League. His 135 hits also rank sixth in the NL, which his batting average currently stands at .310.

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Central Maui suffers setback

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The Central Maui Little League All-Stars had a chance to clinch a spot in the semifinals of the Western Regionals.

But Loomis-Eureka of Northern California jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and held on for a 5-3 win. The NorCal champions improved their tournament record to 4-0, outscoring its opponents by a 26-5 margin.

The loss came despite Noa Apolo's third homer of the tournament, and took Central Maui's destiny out of its hands and put the team on hold pending the result of a game of later game between Arizona and Nevada.

Central Maui needs Arizona to post a lopsided win over Nevada in order to advance in the six-team tournament.

The semifinals will be held on Friday. The championship game is set for Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.

On the major-league front yesterday, Kurt Suzuki went 1-for-4 for Oakland in 3-2 loss to Baltimore, while Shane Victorino went 0-for-4 for Philadelphia in a 4-3, 12-inning victory over the Chicago Cubs.

On the soccer front, Hawaii's Brian Ching started for the US in its World Cup qualifying match at Mexico. The Americans jumped out to a 1-0 lead nine minutes in, but ended up sufferind yet another loss at Azteca Stadium. The US is now 0-23-1 in games played in the 7,200-foot altitude of Mexico City.

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Central Maui beats Utah, 4-0

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

With Josh Nobriga tossing a four-hitter with eight strikeouts and Noa Apolo hitting a first-inning homer, the Central Maui Little League All-Stars claimed their first victory in the Western Regional tournament with a 4-0 win over Cedar City, Utah, at San Bernardino, Calif.

Central Maui needs to post another win Wednesday against Eureka of Northern California to have any chance of advancing out of pool play. You can follow the action on ESPN 550 starting at 9:30 a.m.

The top four of the six teams qualify for the semifinals that begin Friday. The championship game is Sunday, with the winner advancing to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn.

On the big-league front yesterday, Maui's Kurt Suzuki collected a pair of hits – including a double – while scoring twice and droving in a pair of runs, helping the Oakland Athletics to a 9-1 romp past Baltimore.

Suzuki, who has recently been swinging a hot bat, improved his season average to .283. He has 28 doubles and nine homers while scoring 52 runs and driving in 53.

Shane Victorino and the division-leading Phillies were idle yesterday before opening a key road series against the Chicago Cubs.

Victorino is batting .312 with 133 hits, 28 doubles, 75 runs and 50 RBI for the defending World Series champion Phillies, who hold a 3.5-game lead over Florida in the National League East.

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Central Maui drops second game

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The Central Maui All-Stars ran into a steamroller that goes by the name of Park View Little League.

The powerhouse team from Chula Vista, Calif., romped to a 15-2 win over Central Maui yesterday, slugging eight homers in four innings, at the Western Regional tournament in San Bernardino. Joshua Nobriga got into the longball act by homering for Central.

Park View is turning this regional into an internal home run derby, having hammered nine in a 27-1 opening rout of Cedar City, Utah. Park View has outscored foes by a combined 42-2 in just eight total innings as a result of the 10-run mercy rule.

On Friday, it was a classic case of too little, too late for Central Maui, which couldn't overcome an early 6-0 deficit and suffered a 7-4 loss to Glendale, Ariz.

Noah Apolo got Central Maui on the scoreboard with a solo homer in the fifth and Keanu Chang hit a two-run homer to spark a three-run rally in the bottom of the sixth, and final inning.

Central Maui will take an 0-2 mark into Tuesday's game against Cedar City. The first pitch is scheduled for 9:30 and you follow the action on Maui's ESPN 550. Central Maui closes out pool play of Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. against NorCal champ Eureka.

The top four teams in the six-team regional play in Friday's semifinals, winner Sunday's title game advances to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

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Suzuki muscles up for Athletics

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

During his three seasons as a member of the Oakland Athletics, Kurt Suzuki has earned a lot of respect for many areas of his game.

His patience at the plate. His consistency behind the plate. His surprising ability run the bases for a catcher. The role of slugger, however, has not been one of them. But that may be changing.

For the second night in a row, the Baldwin High grad went deep, lifting his season total to a career-best eight home runs. Suzuki is also slugging percentage of .533 over the past eight games.

On Tuesday, Suzuki hit one-out solo homer in the first inning in support of Gio Gonzalez, helping the A's to a 6-0 win over the Rangers.

Last night, he delivered one of Oakland's four homers as the last-place Athletics again beat the contending Rangers, this time by a score of 7-5.

By going 1-for-3, Suzuki upped his team-leading hit total to 108, which ranks second among all major-league catchers, and upped his average to a highly respectable .280 to go with 46 runs and 50 RBI.

Meantime, Shane Victorino had a double in four at-bats in Philadelphia's 7-0 win over Colorado.

Victorino's .317 average ranks eighth in the National League. He's also in the top ten in a variety of offensive categories. He's tied for second the NL with 131 hits, fifth with 74 runs, sixth in triples with six, ninth with 28 doubles.

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Central Maui All-Stars on ESPN 550

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

The Central Maui Little League All-Stars take center stage in the West Regionals.

And, we're delighted to report, ESPN 550 will be airing all of Central Maui's games live from San Bernardino, Calif.

The live coverage will begin with Friday's 1 p.m. showdown against Glendale, Arizona.

That will be followed by games at 5 p.m. Sunday against Southern California, at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday against Utah and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday against Northern California.

The top four of the six teams will qualify for next Friday's semifinals with the championship game set for Sunday, Aug. 16, at 2 p.m.

At the big-league level, both of Maui's players currently in the majors had productive performances yesterday.

Kurt Suzuki hit a solo homer in the first inning, giving Gio Gonzalez all the support he needed, as Oakland blanked Texas 6-0. It was Suzuki's seventh homer of the season.

Philadelphia center fielder Shane Victorino returned to the starting lineup after missing several starts because of a bruised knee.

Victorino responded by collecting a pair of hits in four at-bats, raising his season average to .316. He also threw out a runner out at second base, but the Phillies suffered an 8-3 home loss to Colorado.

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Hawaiian regains state paddling title

By Fred Guzman
ESPN550.com

This time, Hawaiian Canoe Club left nothing to chance.

Beaten by just three points last year following a controversial disqualification, Hawaiian used a familiar formula in romping to the state paddling championship by a 60-point margin on Saturday. It was Hawaiian's eighth title in the last nine years.

Napili also got in the championship act by taking top honors in the smallest-club A Division.

Kihei Canoe Club finished second, 34 points behind Puna, in the AAA. Another Maui crew, Lae Ula Kai, also was second by a single point in AA, which was won by Keaukaha.

In the big club division, Kai 'Opua from the Big Island placed a distant second to Hawaiian with 295 points. Kailua from O'ahu was third with 293. Lanikai, which ended Hawaiian's run of seven straight titles last year, finished fourth with 273.

Hawaiian racked up points early in the youth races and maintained the lead through the open adult and masters races. Hawaiian won four races: boys 12, girls 14, girls 15 and women novice B.

In the 13 youth races, Hawaiian piled up 156 points. No other club scored more than 90 in the youth races.

It was the 11th time in the last 12 years that Hawaiian scored the most points in the youth races at the state regatta.

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