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The Little League World Series champs from Honolulu landed Monday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to a hero’s welcome and were praised by Gov. David Ige and Mayor Kirk Caldwell for representing their state with humility and sportsmanship during their undefeated run in South Williamsport, Pa. Read more

The Little League World Series champs from Honolulu landed Monday at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport to a hero’s welcome and were praised by Gov. David Ige and Mayor Kirk Caldwell for representing their state with humility and sportsmanship during their undefeated run in South Williamsport, Pa.

Unlike Hawaii’s two previous Little League World Series champs from Ewa Beach and Waipahu, the Honolulu team represents Oahu’s urban core. City Managing Director Roy Amemiya said plans are underway to hold a parade for the team possibly sometime this week — likely downtown and definitely not in Waikiki.

“It’s for the residents, not the visitors,” Amemiya said.

Aloha Tower and Honolulu Hale were lit up in the team’s colors of powder blue and gold.

After they landed in Honolulu on Monday afternoon and had a private greeting by Ige, Caldwell and Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho, the 14 boys and three coaches were showered in lei, given bentos from Zippy’s and received a raucous greeting from the Royal Hawaiian Band, which played the theme to “Hawaii Five-0” as the team entered a press conference and was greeted by family, friends and the Honolulu media.

“You are the best in the world,” Ige told the boys and their coaches and manager. He said the team won while showing “class and determination.”

Ige and Caldwell praised the team for providing a much-needed boost to an island state that had been preoccupied by the threat of hurricane-force wind and rain.

Caldwell repeated the story of how the team stayed around after dinner one night to help the restaurant crew clean up.

“After Hurricane Lane we needed some good news,” Caldwell said. “These young men showed grace and humility.”

Hawaii’s Ka‘olu Holt pitched his first complete game Sunday to lead a 3-0 win over South Korea. The boys from Honolulu gave up only three runs in the tournament and never suffered a loss.

With previous Little League World Series wins, Hawaii is now one of seven U.S. states to win at least three championships. The Hawaii victories all have come in the last 13 years.

On Monday the team displayed the same mix of humility, appreciation and personality they showed to the world at the mecca of Little League baseball.

Tim Sakahara, a former Honolulu television journalist who is now spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which runs Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, served as emcee for Monday’s news conference and interviewed the team’s manager, Gerald Oda, and star players Holt; Mana Lau Kong, who led the team off Sunday with a first-pitch homer; Aukai Kea, who struck out 15 of 18 players from Peach Tree, Ga., on Saturday to advance to the championship game; and Sean “Big Sexy” Yamaguchi — a fan favorite who told Sakahara that he has gained 70,000 Instagram followers.

Before choking up, Oda thanked all of the parents and volunteers who supported the team.

“This journey has been such a humbling experience,” he told the crowd gathered at the airport.

Holt said, “It’s amazing to see everyone support us.”

Asked about his first-inning, first-pitch homer, Kong told Sakahara, “I just swung. … I was thinking we really needed that run.”

Kea got off the plane wearing a walking cast and told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he had been playing injured with a strained tendon in his left ankle for the past month.

Like his teammates, Yamaguchi, a 13-year-old seventh-grader at St. Louis School, said he knows that their win and celebrated homecoming eventually will revert to reality.

For the immediate future, Yamaguchi said, “I gotta go to school.”

But for now at least, Yamaguchi told Sakahara that he wants to enjoy the ride.

“In about two years it’s going to go away,” he said.

Clarke Bright, bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band, said the team’s actions on and off the field showed “they were great ambassadors. For Hawaii, that makes us even more proud.”

Bright particularly appreciated Oda’s message to the team “to be humble” and “it’s we over me.”

But a few song’s from the Royal Hawaiian Band’s set list to greet the team were sometimes far from humble. They included “We Are the Champions” and “Eye of the Tiger,” along with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and “Hawaii Aloha.”

Catcher Bruce Boucher was greeted at the airport by his grandparents and Aiea neighbors, who carried signs such as “Honolulu no ka oi.”

“He’s been putting his heart into this for a long time,” grandpa Mark Boucher Sr. said.

But with the World Series win, Boucher said he hopes his grandson learned a lifetime of lessons along the way that will help guide his future.

“It’s been a great learning experience,” Boucher said.