SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT – A little hustle and some old-fashioned toughness from third baseman/pitcher Brextyn Kamaha’o Hong helped produce a big win. Give Eassie Miller a huge assist as well.

Kamaha’o made a fabulous inning-ending play to close the fifth inning and leave the bases loaded. An inning later he came into pitch with the bases loaded and one out. He promptly induced a line drive to third and Miller, who had just moved there, snared the rocket before tagging third and completing the clinching double play.

Evan Tavares, Kanon Nakama, Kamalei Leynes-Santos and Brextyn Hong combined on a one-hitter and Wailuku scored three first-inning runs as it defeated Salem, New Hampshire, 3-1 Wednesday afternoon in the first American game at the Little League World Series.

Hayden Takashi ripped a two-run single and Milleran RBI single as Wailuku earned a spot in Friday’s winner’s bracket quarterfinal against Hinsdale, Illinois.

“That (sixth inning) ball could be two feet to the left and then it’s a different game,” Wailuku manager Daniel Bolduc said. “He hit it right at him and we were out of it … thank God.”

New Hampshire gave the Central East Maui Little League, which took third in the U.S at the 2019 Series, all it could handle, putting the go-ahead runners on base with one out in the top of the sixth. Hong; however, remained calm against the team’s No. 2 hitter, Grayson Buckley.

After working a 1-1 count, Buckley smoked a liner toward third base. Off the bat, it looked like a game-tying single but Miller was in the right place at the right time and quickly made the catch. The lead runner had started breaking for home and Miller was able to make the quick tag at third for the force out and victory.

“I saw it right away,” Miller said. “I saw him (the runner) out of the side of my eye. It was very exciting.”

“We practice for a play like that,” Bolduc said. “We practice those situations all the time, so that it becomes automatic.”

Hong came up huge in the fifth inning as Wailuku again escaped a bases-loaded threat. Colton Johnson hit a two-out RBI single, pulling New Hampshire within 3-1 before Zach Bolduc hit a slow roller up the third base line.

Hong immediately charged the play and made a great decision. Instead of throwing across his body and trying to get the runner at first, Hong remembered that there was a force play at home and made a quick throw to catcher Matthew Yang who tagged home and ended the threat.

“That was a huge play,” Bolduc said. “I told him afterward it was a really nice play. It was heads-up baseball.”

Wailuku wasted little time taking the lead, scoring three runs in its first at-bat. Gauge Pacheco drew a lead-off walk before Tavares singled and Nakama was hit by a pitch. That set the stage for Takahashi who scored a two-run single into right field.

A batter later, Miller laced an RBI single and Wailuku led, 3-0. Takahashi went 2 for 2 and Miller was 1 for 1 with a walk.

“It was really nice,” Takahashi said. “The pitch before, though, I should have bit back on it earlier.”

Tavares again was untouchable, building off his dominant performance at the West Regional. After striking out 26 in 12 innings there, the hard-throwing left-hander threw 2 1/3 innings and struck out seven.

Tavares induced swings and misses 12 times and all seven of his outs came via strikeout. Bolduc lifted him at 35 pitches as well, keeping him eligible to throw again if necessary Friday.

“I felt like my fastball would work all the time. I didn’t really need the curveball,” Tavares said. “It felt good to get into a rhythm.”

Wailuku threatened again in the fourth inning when it loaded the bases but a grounder ended the inning. Yang hit a lead-off double in the fifth, but Nolan Dupuis struck out the side from there, setting the stage for a dramatic ending.

“We played them down to the last out and positioned ourselves well. They should feel proud,” New Hampshire manager Dan DeFrancesco said. “If you told me at the beginning of this that we would be playing the West in a two-run game with a chance to take the lead in the sixth inning, I would take that 100 times out of 100.”