Comeback KIDS
On the brink of elimination, the boys of Waipio rally to win perhaps the greatest game in Little League World Series history and then go on to win it all
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a father who turned a sweet tropical fruit into a fashion statement.
For Rena Winchester, hearing Billy “Pineapple Man” Obedoza begin the chant of Pa-li-ku, Pali-ku was a tear-inducing chicken-skin moment.
“It was the biggest aloha gift the Waipio family could give me. I can’t describe it,” says the mother of third baseman Pikai and 5-year-old Palikuonakoolau, who in February was diagnosed with lymphoma.
“The dedication they gave to my son and my family is surreal, and it’s something that I’ll never forget. Everybody knows I broke down and cried. I believe the mana from the whole Island and the whole state of Hawaii was felt at that moment and at that time. That was my most cherished moment from my entire trip.”
While viewers nationwide were no doubt caught up in the little boy’s story, little did they know the true meaning behind the rallying cry they were hearing and how fitting the words fit the situation. Raena says Palikuonakoolau means standing high above the mountain. So when they began chanting her son’s name, they were, in fact yelling, “stand tall, stand tall.”
Paliku is doing very well. He was planning on joining his brother on his trip to Williamsport, but the travel may have been too much, and the day before the regional championship in California he became dehydrated and had to spend the night in a hospital. The next day he flew home with his parents, and one day later began more chemotherapy treatment. Happy to be home, his strength has returned and he was even able to join the family at the Mililani Golf Course for the World Series. In fact, so high were his spirits and he was having so much fun, he didn’t want to pull himself away to talk to Mom and Dad on the phone. “He wasn’t missing us at all,” laughs Rena.
Paliku is undergoing treatment that can vary from once to four times a week, and he’s scheduled to continue this type of treatment for another two years. A fund has been set up to help the family at Bank of Hawaii. Donations can be made to the “Friends of Paliku,” and you can e-mail with your support or if you have any questions to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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“I know people are having fundraisers for him. The community has been so gracious, so generous and so giving. Half the time I don’t even know who the people are.”
After such an exciting U.S. Championship, the world title was bound to be anticlimactic even with Iolana Akua’s Sports Center highlight grab in right field. The team scored early and often and by the midway point victory seemed secure. Not that Donahue was ready to rest on his team’s Saturday night laurels.
“I didn’t think about it (winning) until we were up 9-3 because Mexico had a good hitting team. But once we were up 9-3, you could see it in the kids’ faces that they were accepting it already, and we pushed across three more to make it 12-3. And I felt really confident with our pitching and defense that there was no way they were going to come back and score nine runs in the last two innings.”
With victory in hand, it was time to party. The kids stayed up late playing tape ball and video games, and went searching for more team pins. It was basically like any other night. The kids ran around the secured campus while parents hoped for just a bit more sleep. The month-plus-long journey that saw the team win 15 of 17 games, drained bodies and bank accounts, and the rest that they so long had waited for remains an unfulfilled goal.
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After being greeted by a throng of fans at the airport, the team has been juiced and dined on a near daily basis, not to mention countless radio, TV and newspaper interviews. They’ve received heroes’welcome at their schools, and got to share a parade with local Olympians.
And back in the Donahue household, tape ball remains the most popular living room pastime for C-Boy, sister Tia and brother Jordan. It is for that very reason that their spacious Mililani Mauka home is noticeably thin on furniture. Couches and chairs are just impediments on the way to future MLB glory.
Timo Donahue introduces his team.
Iolana Akau - catcher/pitcher/outfield. Solid catcher, good athlete.
Jedd Andrade - outfield. He’s a funny guy. He’s always in a good mood. He came in big for us too.
Christian “C-Boy” Donahue - Shortstop/pitcher. Pressure player. Anytime he got on, normally we scored.
Caleb Duhay - outfield/pitcher. He and Khade were pitchers 1 and 1A. Caleb had to become No. 1 when Khade got hurt. He kept us in the game. He pitched the world championship game.
Ulumano Farm - outfield. He gave us steady defense when he was out there and he also bullpen caught for us when Matthew was in the game.
Kainoa Fong - outfield/pitcher. Smallest guy we got. We call him Hollywood. He’s not afraid of the camera.
Trevor Ling - outfield/pitcher. He came up big for us when Paris got hurt. He ate up innings until we could get to the bullpen.
Keelen Obedoza - outfield/pitcher/catcher. Keelen stepped in to play catcher when Iolana went down with an injury. He did a wonderful job.
Khade Paris - first base/pitcher. He was our main pitcher for the last two seasons. I think he was one of the premier pitchers, you can say, in the world right now.
Tanner Tokunaga - second base/pitcher. He pretty much did a whole lot of everything. Great character. Pulled his pants down on national TV to remove some dirt.
Jordan Ulep - outfield. Defensively he was good for us. He basically only played one inning a game and we knew he could run down the balls.
Kahiau “Pikai” Winchester - third base. He’s a big bat for us in the two tournaments on the Mainland. Quiet kid.
Matthew Yap - outfield. Steady player. Great team player. Ended up being our bullpen catcher.
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