MB Spoiler Wins World Series

The Hilo, Hawaii baseball team that beat Manhattan Beach 9-1 earlier this month for a berth in the Senior Division Little League World Series has captured the title.

On Saturday, led by 6-foot lefthander Quintin Torres-Costa, the Hawaii team beat the Rose Capital East Little League team of Tyler, Texas, 11-1 in Bangor, Maine to win the coveted World Series.

Last year, it was an MB team that advanced to the World Series by beating Hilo 5-4 for the Little League Western Region Tournament crown.

In that outing, Torres-Costa pitched just three innings against MB before being yanked as he neared the league's 95-pitch limit rule. Jackson Lipps was one player who made the pitcher work, waiting him out by taking 11 pitches in his first at bat and 10 the second time he faced the pitcher.

Braden Casady was the run that put MB ahead for good in that game.

But this year during the World series title game, Torres-Costa, who also was given the loss for the 2008 Junior League World Series title game against Curacao, threw just 51 pitches, 37 of them strikes, in the five-inning victory.

Pitching depth and frugality was a key strategy used in the World Series this year.

MB Manager Carlos Rojas was already on top of that when he picked his all-stars.

Rojas told Manhattan Beach Patch during his team's competition in Riverside, where they bested the competition to advance to the Western Regional tournament, that he and his coaches, Aaron Medina and Russ Kontos, filled in their 16-man roster with as many as nine experienced pitchers.

Before MB faced Hilo this year, Rojas said, “Hawaii can hit, hit for power, field and pitch. It will be like David and Goliath.”

To read more about the Hilo team and its run to the title in the World Series tournament, click here.