Little League diary

Timo Donahue, manager of the Waipi'o baseball team in the 11- to 12-year-old Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., will provide insights from youth baseball's oldest and most prestigious tournament. Waipi'o is the 10th Hawai'i team to compete in the World Series, which started in 1947. The last team, West O'ahu, in 2005, is the only team to win the title.

Defying the odds.

We were the underdogs everywhere, except the state. We went to the regionals (in San Bernardino). The talk was Nevada was the team to beat.

Everybody hyped that pitcher. He was really good. I said it then, this is probably the best pitcher we'll face in the nation. But Washington (Mill Creek) has two good pitchers.

We came here. They're not talking about us.

It's Florida, Connecticut. They're (Connecticut) not in it (the semifinals). Washington, they're good.

Everybody said we couldn't hit. But we played good defense. Our pitching is deep, but we can't hit. That's what everybody here says. I kept saying it's a matter of time before we started hitting the ball.

If we do hit, I think we got a really good chance.

That's why (we're) defying the odds, because nobody expected us to win, except the guys in this dorm right here.

They're (the kids) not getting the credit they deserve.

The guys up here, they're still doubters.

We're not as big as the other teams, but we can play this game. We play, baseballwise, fundamentally, better than half the teams here.

Our defense, we take pride in that.

I wish they'd give us equal as they give everybody else.

I don't think the game is about home runs. Home runs are good, though.

Today, look at that, we got four home runs. We had three homers (total) in the first three games. Now, four homers today. First question they asked, "Where'd that come from?" The kids answered that. They said they were concentrating more. Then they asked me. I said this team, I've been telling them all along, we can hit, but we just haven't shown it.

At worst, we're still the second-best team in the nation.

I think our team is a good-hitting team and hopefully, we're peaking.

We're in the U.S. championship. We're the Cinderella team is what it seems like.

I'm done venting.

THE NATURAL

(On Iolana Akau's homer in his first at-bat since getting hit by a pitch and suffering a hairline fracture in his left elbow.)

I wasn't expecting much. That's a boost of confidence for him. That's good for us as a team.

The good thing is he got back on the field in the Little League World Series and on top of that he hit a home run. You can't ask for anything more. Had he not come back his one memory would be his first at-bat and he got beaned.

OFF-DAY PIGOUT

We're going to have a cookout tomorrow. Somebody's cooking a pig. ESPN is coming out to shoot it.