NATIONAL CHAMPS: Central East Maui overcomes 3-0 deficit to claim U.S. title at Intermediate 50/70 World Series, play for world championship Sunday at 3 p.m.

The Central East Maui Little League All-Stars came back from a 3-0 deficit to claim the national championship at the Intermediate 50/70 World Series in Livermore, Calif., with a 7-3 win over Greater New Orleans Little League on Saturday.

Maui will play Valencia, Venezuela, for the world championship Sunday at 3 p.m. HST in a game streamed on ESPN+.

“The boys, they played well,” Maui manager Brendan Fujii said. “They played hard today. It was a team win.”

Maui scored five runs with two outs in the top of the fourth inning to take the lead for good. Gabriel Laloulu knocked in the first run with an RBI single to score Evan Tavares.

Hayden Takahashi brought Maui within 3-2 with a run-scoring single that plated Kanon Nakama. Eassie Miller followed with another single that allowed Takahashi and Laloulu to score, giving Maui a 4-3 lead.

Miller scored the final run of the inning on a single by Matthew Yang.

Cam Kaneshiro scored on a balk and Kamalei Leynes-Santos scored on an error in the top of the fifth to make it 7-3.

A team from Central East Maui Little League won the world championship at this level in 2016.

One year ago, this group captured the imagination of the island that was coming up on the one-year anniversary of the wildfires that killed at least 102 people by becoming just the second Maui team ever to qualify for the traditional Little League (11-12) World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

They were eliminated short of the world title in Williamsport, but that is something this group can change on Sunday.

“Coming up short last year, they wanted it today,” Fujii said Saturday. “They were hungry this year for it, and they came out on top, so we got one more game to go.”

Evan Tavares, Maui’s 5-foot-11 ace pitcher, pitched the final five innings Saturday, allowing no runs to pick up the win on the mound. Kolten Magno is a 5-foot second baseman from Lahaina who plays on this team with an district exemption after the 2023 Lahaina wildfire claimed his family home.

Fujii and his staff had planned to use Tavares to start on the mound on Sunday, but didn’t have a choice but to use him on Saturday after Maui fell behind 3-0 through two innings.

“We’re down, we’re down three runs already,” Fujii said. “So we’re trying to decide who we’re going to put in, and obviously, Evan’s available, and we’re thinking about keeping him under the 20 (pitches, leaving him eligible to pitch Sunday), but the game was still too close, so we decided to just keep him in, finish the game, because, yeah, there’s no tomorrow.”

Fujii had two words to describe Tavares: “He’s special.”

Kanon Nakama, Kellen Takamura, Gauge Pacheco, Cam Kaneshiro, Eassie “Kaiehu” Miller, Jet Pontes, Matthew Yang, Brextyn Hong, Hayden Takahashi, Kamalei Leynes-Santos and Gabriel Laloulu make up the rest of the team.

Magno attends Lahaina Intermediate School; Leynes-Santos, Nakama, Pacheco, Takahashi, Takamura, Tavares and Yang all attend ‘Iao Intermediate; Hong, Kaneshiro, Miller and Pontes go to Kamehameha Schools Maui; and Laloulu goes to Maui Waena. 

The 13 players on the team this year are the exact same 13 players as last year.

Only the coaches have changed for this group.

Brendan Fujii is now the manager for the team and is assisted by Lester Nakama and Kory Takamura. Last season, Daniel Bolduc was the manager, assisted by Kevin Constantino and Ian Shimabuku.

“Being two postseasons together, and making it to the World Series twice, and actually winning it this time, like, I can’t even imagine if anybody’s even done that before,” Fujii said. “So I don’t think they realize how special it is, and the situation they’re in, and what they accomplished today.”