'Aiea's Travis Tanaka had an all-or-nothing day at the plate yesterday against Waipi'o in the League Majors (ages 11-12) State Tournament at 'Aiea Annex field.

And the "all" certainly outweighed the "nothing."

Tanaka belted two first-pitch homers, including the go-ahead two-run shot in the fifth inning, as 'Aiea eliminated defending World Series champion Waipi'o, 8-5.

"It was very exciting for me to do that," said Tanaka of his second homer, which put 'Aiea up 6-5. "I was just trying to hit the ball and get on base, and it went over."

The clean-up hitter saw five pitches all game, including a three-pitch strikeout in the second.

'Aiea (2-1) will play Central Maui (2-0) at 11 a.m. today in the final of the double-elimination tournament. If 'Aiea wins, a winner-take-all final will follow at 2 p.m.

"Having to beat them twice will be a challenge, but, hey, the challenge will be so fun," said 'Aiea's Hunter Yara, who belted a three-run homer and was the winning pitcher.

The state champion advances to the West Regional at San Bernardino, Calif., Aug. 7 to 16. The World Series is in Williamsport, Pa., Aug. 21 to 30.

Last year's Waipi'o team won it all, but no players or coaches returned to this year's Majors Division team.

In the bottom of the first yesterday, 'Aiea's Jantzen Tamanaha reached on a fielding error by the shortstop and Westin Saito drew a walk.

Yara belted a three-run homer to left, and Tanaka followed with a homer to right-center to stake 'Aiea to a 4-0 lead without an out being recorded.

"We knew we had to jump on Waipi'o early because we know Waipi'o is a good comeback team," said 'Aiea coach George Yara. "They've shown a lot of skill and a lot of heart throughout this whole tournament."

Waipi'o (2-2) scored three in the second on Ryan Stack's two-run homer to left and Lene Manuma's RBI infield single.

In the fifth, Waipi'o took a 5-4 lead on sacrifice flies by Ty DeSa and Kaleb Vutnoski.

"Our kids had fight and I had a feeling we were going to come back," said Waipi'o coach Ross Yamaguchi. "I have confidence in them. This is a good bunch of kids."

In the bottom half of the inning, Yara had a lead-off single to center and Tanaka homered to right-center to put 'Aiea up 6-5.

"Travis was struggling a little at the beginning, the past few games, but that boy showed some heart today," George Yara said. "He came through big-time today."

'Aiea added two more in the inning on a fielding error by the shortstop and Tamanaha's run-scoring single to right.

Yara, a right-hander, pitched a seven-hitter with one walk and five strikeouts. He occasionally dropped his arm angle to give the Waipi'o batters a different look.

'Aiea also defeated Waipi'o, 1-0, on Thursday.

WAIPI'O 030 020—5 7 3

'AIEA 400 04X—8 7 2

Talor Apana-Purcell, Jason Komoda (1), Kaleb Vutnoski (1), Tyler Kushima (3), Tyler Yamaguchi (5) and Ryan Stack. Hunter Yara and Noah Sills. W — Yara. L — Kushima.

Leading hitters—Waipi'o: Komoda 2-3, double; Stack 2-run homer; Yamaguchi 2-3. 'Aiea: Yara 2-3, 3-run homer, 2 runs; Travis Tanaka 2-3, solo homer, 2-run homer.