Like other young pitchers, Mana Kuamoo eschewed picking up a curveball in favor of a palmball, an off-speed pitch that puts less stress on the arm.
Kuamoo isn’t just learning the palmball, he appears to have mastered it, transferring all the stress on to Little League hitters from Hilo to California.
The left-hander struck out an amazing 16 hitters Sunday in a two-hit gem, and Kuamoo went from tough-luck loser to Game 1 West Regional winner when Hilo rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 2-1 waßlk-off win against Chandler, Ariz., 2-1.