San Pedro Advances to Little League Series With Win Over Hawaii

Hawaii Little League All-Star manager Myron Tamura was almost correct in playing his hunch Saturday night. He figured that the hard-hitting San Pedro Eastview All-Stars would struggle against an off-speed pitcher, so he started curve-ball artist Jason Adaro.

And Adaro was superb, striking out 11, but even that wasn’t enough to stop Eastview from winning the Western Regional Championship before 13,000 fans and becoming the first team from the South Bay to advance to Williamsport for the Little League World Series, which begins this week.

San Pedro opens Wednesday at 11 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time against the Northside Little League of Tampa, Fla.

The 3-2 verdict hinged on a pair of curves that Adaro wishes he had back. The first, in the second inning, was lined for a double into the right-field corner by clean-up hitter Victoria Brucker, who eventually scored on a single by Joe Sulantor.

The second was deposited over the left-field fence for a two-run home run by Tim Harper in the third inning.

Take away four consecutive errors by San Pedro in the bottom of the third inning that allowed Hawaii to pull close and add some drama as the game mounted, they could have turned the lights out early at Al Houghton Stadium. Hawaii got all three of its hits in the first three innings and never got a man to second in the final three innings.

“I thought they were better fastball hitters, so I wanted to give them some off-speed stuff, “Tamara explained. ‘I guessed wrong.

On paper San Pedro figured to overpower the Hawaiian All-Stars. Eastview, after all, had averaged about 14 runs a game in getting to the final game.

But Adaro was superb, tossing a five-hitter and striking out nine of the last 13 men he faced. San Pedro managed just one hit after Harper’s blast, but as the team celebrated the victory on the field after the game ended, it really didn’t seem to matter.

“I thought we’d hit a little better than we did; that curve ball did pose problems for us,” Manager Joe Dileva of San Pedro said.

Harper said he was looking for the pitch, after working Adaro to a one-one count.

“He was due,” said Dileva of his No. 2 batter, who had 17 home runs in regular-season play.

Defensively, however, Dileva and Coach Nick Lusic weren’t pleased, particularly in the fourth inning when each of the infielders took turns making miscues.

“We have a tendancy to do that once in a while,” said Lusic. “We get a big lead and then slack off. But we came back. We are a very offensive ball club, but our defense is suspect.”

Gary Sloan picked up the win for Eastview, his first in playoff action, but he was forced from the game after three innings when he was hit on the wrist while swinging at a pitch. He was scheduled for X-rays this morning. Harper picked up the save.

Eastview jumped on top 1-0 in the second inning. Brucker led off the inning with a double just inside the right-field line, and after Steve Williams struck out, left fielder Sulantor bounced the first pitch from Adaro up the middle for a single, driving in Brucker.

San Pedro added a pair of runs in the third inning on the two-run home run by Harper.