Little League diary

Timo Donahue, coach of the Waipi'o baseball team in the 11- to 12-year-old Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., will provide insights from youth baseball's oldest and most prestigious tournament. Waipi'o is the 10th Hawai'i team to compete in the World Series, which started in 1947. The last team, West O'ahu, in 2005, is the only team to win the title.

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — We went to this place called Knoebels (about 40 minutes from stadium). It's like a theme park, country style.

The roller coasters, they had two good ones. The framing is all made out of wood. We rode a couple of log rides and we got soaked.

They had a blast over there. They deserved it.

TODAY'S OPPONENT

We figured we were going to play Washington. We saw them in California (Waipi'o was in the West Regional and Washington was in the Northwest. Both were held in San Bernardino). We pretty much know they got some great pitching.

They're huge. They're probably the biggest team in this tournament.

Me and the coach (Scott Mahlum) talk a lot. He's from UW (University of Washington). He was there the same time as me. The guy is 6 feet 8. He didn't play baseball, for sure. He owns a memorabilia store, with baseball cards, autographs. He has Ichiro (Suzuki) and he used to have the other Mariner people. He had (Ken) Griffey Jr. and A-Rod. If you wanted an A-Rod signature, you would have to go through him.

In California, they gave the award to the best who exemplifies what Little League is about. He got it for the Northwest and I got it for the West.

I just saw him yesterday (Monday). Said, 'Hey, looks like we're going to meet each other.' Now, one of us will knock each other out. It would be nice if we were meeting up on Saturday (in the U.S. final). We're both Huskies. He's good people. He's great. As most Huskies are.

INJURY UPDATE

(Iolana Akau). They're waiting for the last minute to clear him. We'll know tomorrow.

(Khade Paris). He's not going to pitch. He's going to play the field, first base.