Fullerton’s Golden Hill Little League edged by Honolulu in West Region opener

SAN BERNARDINO — Honolulu Little League manager Gererd Oda knows that fortune favors the bold at the Little League West Region tournament.

Making his fourth trip to Al Houghton Stadium since 2014, Oda waved Bentley Itagaki around to score on Hawaii’s only hit of the game in a tight 1-0 victory over Southern California on Saturday night.”It’s the luck of the baseball gods,” Oda said. “We were just fortunate.”

Bronson Fermahin’s RBI double into the right-centerfield gap plated Itagaki from first base in the first inning. “I was looking for a fastball down the middle but it was a slider up and out and I just swung,” Fermahin said.

Fermahin and two relievers combined on a six-hit shutout for Honolulu, the 2018 and 2022 Little League World Series champions under Oda.

“The benefit of coming here before is knowing what to expect,” Oda said. “We knew we were playing Southern California on Opening Night so we knew the pressure was going to be on and we had to be ready early on.”

Fermahin struck out Golden Hill’s first three batters in the first inning and finished with six strikeouts in 3⅔ innings to get the win for Hawaii, which takes on Northern California on Monday night.

“We are just very lucky that (Bronson) got his hit and he was great on the mound, and we’re just very, very fortunate that the baseball gods smiled upon us,” Oda said.

After battling nerves in the first inning, Golden Hill starting pitcher Gavin Janicke got out of a jam in the second and struck out the side in the third before leaving in the fourth after 65 pitches. He totaled a game-high nine strikeouts.

“(Janicke) was phenomenal. It was like Holy moly,” Oda said.

Evan Cho went 2 for 2 with a double for SoCal, whose best opportunity came with the bases loaded in the fifth before Hawaii reliever Logan Brokaw produced a pair of rally-killing strikeouts.

“There’s time to swing for the fences and there’s a time to put a ball in play,” Golden Hill LL manager Joe Janicke said. “We got to hit it the other way and get that guy over. We have to put the ball in play and move runners, and the kids know about it. We’ve been working on it for three years.”

In the sixth, SoCal’s Enzo Catota singled up the middle and Janicke drew a one-out walk. Hawaii closer Mason Mitani struck out Jacob Woo and Lincoln Ploog to end the game.

Raegen Pak reached base twice in the loss, Golden Hill’s first since the opening game of the sectional tournament that broke a seven-game winning streak.

“We’ve been here before,” Joe Janicke said. “I still expect us to be there (in the West Region championship game) on Thursday.”

SoCal plays Arizona in the first elimination game on Monday at 9 a.m.