Naturally, Hilo’s Nobu Yamauchi RBI team primarily draws talent from East Hawaii. All but two players either attend Hilo High or Waiakea, and another goes to Kamehameha.
That by no means makes Konawaena’s Steven Texeira an outsider. Texeira more than represented his side of the island Saturday, pitching 6 1/3 solid innings as the Hawaii Juniors beat Atlanta 3-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati to finish pool play undefeated at the RBI World Series.
“We needed Stevie to step up, and he gave us what we really needed,” coach Tony De Sa said.
Combined with a 15-10 victory against Pawtucket earlier in the day, Hawaii earned the top seed in the West division and will play Baltimore, the No. 4 seed in the East, at 4:30 a.m. HST Sunday in the 15-and-under quarterfinals.
De Sa, the coach of Hilo High, said Baltimore is winless yet dangerous, but Texeira’s handiwork helped Hawaii avoid the Dominican Republic in the quarters.
“Those guys are amazing,” De Sa said.
Texeira, a junior left-hander, took the ball under the lights at the home of the Cincinnati Reds and allowed only two hits, striking out four and walking two. Ryan Ragual got the final two outs in his first appearance on the mound at the tournament.
“When the lights went on, it felt like we were playing in the day,” De Sa said, laughing. “The field was perfect. I don’t know how anybody ever makes an error.”
Hawaii was charged with one.
Like most teams, De Sa said he saved his ace, Ragual, for the win-or-go-home games. The semifinals are later Sunday and the championship game is Monday.
Texeira finished with two hits and started Hawaii’s three-run rally in the second inning with a walk. He scored on a triple by Logan Respicio, who made it 2-0 when he scampered home on a error by the catcher. Respicio was 2 for 3.
With one out, Christopher Hatenaka Gibbs walked, moved to second on Kypp Miyashiro’s sacrifice, took third on Casey Yamauchi’s hit and scored on Jacob Igawa’s fielder’s choice.
Sandwiched in between Texeira’s gem and a 2-0 victory against Houston on Friday, Hawaii won a slugfest against Pawtucket in which both teams scored six runs in the first inning.
“As a coach you never feel too good, but we have reasons to he confident,” De Sa said.
Puukani De Sa finished with two hits, including a double, and three RBIs, Ragual was 2 for 3 with four runs scored and a run batted in, and Igawa collected three hits, one an RBI single, and scored twice. Respicio was 2 for 4.
Hawaii used five pitchers. Cody Hirata got the win, getting four outs in relief, and Donald Saltiban worked a scoreless inning.
