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Fullerton’s Golden Hill Little League falls to Honolulu in West Region championship – San Bernardino Sun

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Golden Hill’s Kellan Tucker shatters his aluminum bat to make the final out against Hawaii during the Little League West Region championship game at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Hawaii eliminated Golden Hills with a 4-1 win and will represent the western region at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. (Photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

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SAN BERNARDINO — The force is with Master Oda and Hawaii, again.

With a trip to Williamsport, Pa. and the Little League World Series on the line, Bronson Fermahin hurled a four-hitter to lead Honolulu Little League to a 4-1 victory over Fullerton’s Golden Hill LL on a sweltering Thursday night at Al Houghton Stadium.

“The job is still not done,” Fermahin said. “We still got to play our hearts out for Williamsport.”

It’s the second consecutive year – and fourth time in five years – that Hawaii will represent the West Region.

Last year, Central East Maui LL manufactured a run late to defeat Eastvale LL 2-1 in one of the tightest contests to date.

This year, two early runs were enough to send Hawaii back to the World Series for the fourth time since 2018.

“Those two runs were huge because it helped create momentum on our side, and we knew coming in that this wasn’t going to be easy and it wasn’t,” Oda said. “We all wanted to give these kids the experience of going to Williamsport because it’s a life-changing experience.”

In 16 matchups since 2010, Southern California holds a 9-7 advantage over Hawaii but the Island Boys have won the last three West Region championship game matchups.

“SoCal’s always tough. No matter who comes out of SoCal it’s going to be a great team,” Oda said. “Today was kind of difficult because it was like a home game for SoCal.”

In its first appearance at the West Region tournament, Golden Hill scored all of its runs after in the fourth inning or later and trailed in three of its four games.

“Not scoring runs, period, hurt us and it’s been our bane here,” SoCal manager Joe Janicke said. “Maybe it was fatigue. I don’t know what to say.”

A three-time West Region champion and the 2018 and 2022 Little League World Series champions under Oda’s tutelage, Honolulu LL got on the scoreboard in the first inning.

No. 2 hitter Josh Tanaka singled up the middle, Bronson Fermahin was hit by a pitch, before Evan Crawford’s single to centerfield drove in Tanaka.

Following a walk to Dayten Ordenstein to load the bases, SoCal starter Jacob Woo was replaced by Lincoln Ploog. The tall right-hander plunked the first batter he faced to plate another run and give Hawaii a 2-0 lead before striking out Bentley Itagaki to get out of the inning.

In the second inning, Ploog suffered from a heat-induced bloody nose – the temperature was in the high 90s for the first hour of the game – and on the first pitch after a delay to stop the bleeding, he gave up an RBI double to Kuana Payenal as Hawaii grabbed a 3-0 lead.

“Lincoln gets bloody noses every year during all-stars, and it always gets tended to and he goes on to dominate but it took him a few batters to find his groove today,” Janicke said.

After hitting three of the first four batters he faced, Ploog settled in and struck out 10 over the final 4⅓ innings. He allowed just one run over nine-plus innings in three appearances.

“He pitched his butt off. I’m very proud of him,” Janicke said.

Fermahin, who struck out six in 3⅔ innings to help get the 1-0 win in the opener vs. SoCal, pitched into the sixth inning and finished with 11 strikeouts. “He really stayed calm in some tough situations,” Oda said. “He pitched a (heck) of a game, that’s for sure.”

Hawaii added to its lead in the fifth after Mason Mitani sent a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left-center field for a solo home run.

In the sixth, Mitani was brought in with two out and went to a full count against Kellan Tucker, who broke his bat hitting a line drive back at Mitani to end the game.

“I saw the bat piece fly off and the ball flying towards me and I stuck my glove out and caught it,” Mitani said. “I’m very thankful that Coach put me in for the final out.”Added Oda: “Good thing he was wearing his glasses.”

Following the Mountain and Northwest Region finals, all three champions will travel to Pennsylvania on Saturday.



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