Hawaii storms back to advance to title game
Call ’em the Comeback Kids.
Tanner Tokunaga doubled home two runs with the bases loaded with two outs to cap a dramatic six-run sixth inning that gave Hawaii a come-from-behind 7-5 win Saturday over Louisiana in South Williamsport, Pa., to advance to the Little League World Series title game.
Waipahu, Hawaii’s opponent today will be Matamoros, Mexico, which defeated Tokyo 5-4 earlier Saturday for the international title.
Lake Charles, La., looked to be a lock to represent the United States when the boys from the Bayou State entered the top of the sixth with a 5-1 lead.
But Hawaii didn’t quit.
“They’ve just always had this never- give-up attitude,” manager Timo Dohahue said.
Tokunaga started the rally off reliever Gunner Leger with a single, and Pikai Winchester followed with a ground-rule double to put runners on second and third. Iolana Akau’s single drove in Hawaii’s first run of the inning to cut it to 5-2.
Khade Paris drove in a run on a groundout and Caleb Duhay added an RBI single for two more runs.
Four batters later, Christian Donahue, Timo Donahue’s son, came up with two outs and the bases loaded and lined a hard grounder that Leger, who had moved to first, misplayed to score Duhay.
That set up Tokunaga’s go-ahead double, which just slipped under shortstop Kennon Fontenot’s glove and made its way to the warning track to score Jedd Andrade and Keelen Obedoza.
Horse racing
Colonel John wins
Colonel John edged Mambo in Seattle in a photo finish to win the $1 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Ridden by Garrett Gomez, Colonel John ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:03.20 and earned $600,000 for WinStar Farm. The Eoin Harty-trained horse paid $10.40, $5.40 and $4.30. Colonel John had not won a race since taking the Santa Anita Derby in April and finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby.
Colonel John was caught in heavy traffic as the field turned into the stretch but bulled his way through a narrow seam between horses, which put him in a clear path for a hard-fought stretch drive.
Mambo in Seattle, ridden by Robby Albarado, paid $6.30 and $5.10. Pyro, the favorite in the 139th running of the Travers, finished third in the race for 3-year-olds with Shaun Bridgmohan riding and paid $3.70.
At the wire, Albarado raised his whip in triumph, only to have the finish photograph determine that Colonel John had won by inches. It was the eighth Travers decided by a nose and the first since 1998.
Tennis
Fish falls in final
Marin Cilic won his first ATP Tour event, beating American Mardy Fish 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 at the Pilot Pen, a U.S. Open tuneup in New Haven, Conn.
Unseeded Caroline Wozniacki won the women’s title, her second tournament victory this month, beating top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
Despite having the crowd against him, the 19-year-old Cilic broke the hard-serving Fish five times, three times in the final set, to secure the win in his first finals appearance.
His best decision of the night may have come at the coin toss, when the 6-foot-6 Cilic elected to receive. He broke Fish in the first game and made that hold up in the first set.
After dropping the second set, he broke Fish again to open the third, pumping his fist in the air. Fish came back with a break of his own, but Cilic responded in the very next game and broke Fish again in the sixth game.
In the women’s draw, Wozniacki earned her second career victory. The 18-year-old Dane hadn’t even been in a WTA final before August.
She won her first WTA Tour win in Stockholm, then reached the third round at the Olympics, where she lost to eventual gold-medalist Elena Dementieva.