Tampa holds on, hands Pearl City first loss

Pearl City was dealt its first defeat when a last-inning rally fell short Wednesday in a 6-4 loss to Tampa, Fla., at the Intermediate (13-14) 50/70 Baseball World Series in Livermore, Calif.

Pearl City, which trailed 6-1 entering the top of the seventh inning, had three runs in and the bases loaded, but the Tampa pitcher struck out the final two batters to end it.

Pearl City (2-1) will face Toms River, N.J., today at 3 p.m. The winner will face Tampa in Saturday’s U.S. final.

Pearl City scored in the seventh on Tytan Takahashi’s RBI single, Justin-Raine Kamana‘o-Bulosan hit by pitch with the bases loaded and a passed ball that plated Takahashi.

Tampa led 3-0 after five innings before Pearl City scored its first run on Noah Propios’ squeeze bunt in the sixth, which drove in Luke Furutani.

Tampa scored three runs in the bottom of the inning.

Furutani and Cade Funai had doubles for Pearl City, and pitcher Ryley Omine worked five innings.