Hawaii Little League again proved it could stand with the best of its region. Evan Tavares showed he could peer head and shoulders above the rest.

Tavares, Central East Maui’s left-handed ace, was masterful in striking out 13 batters among his 16 recorded outs as the Valley Isle team beat Eastvale Little League, 2-1, in the West Region final at Al Houghton Stadium in San Bernardino, Calif., on Friday.

The team from Wailuku avenged an 11-3 loss to the Southern California champs three days prior and became one of 10 teams from around the U.S. to advance to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., starting Wednesday.

Central East Maui will face New Hampshire, the New England champs, in the double-elimination format at 9 a.m. Hawaii time Wednesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

In front of “Maui Strong” signs and shakas being flashed from the Hawaii contingent in the stands, Tavares did not walk a batter in his 5 1/3 innings before he exceeded the pitch limit of 85 and had to be replaced two outs shy of finishing the job.

Right-hander Kanon Nakama came on in relief with a runner on first. He got a strikeout and a groundout to touch off a celebration in the diamond.

The game was tied 1-1 until Central East Maui manufactured a run in the top of the fifth. Tavares reached on an error and advanced to second on a groundout by Nakama. Hayden Takahashi then singled to left-center off the end of the bat to score Tavares.

It was the fifth time in the last six editions of the West Region tournament that a Hawaii team prevailed and advanced to Williamsport. Central East Maui made it in 2019 and finished fourth.

Hawaii now has seven West Region championships, second only to Southern California’s 10.

Correction: New Hampshire won the New England Little League region. An incorrect team was listed in a previous version of this story.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.