Thursday, May 21, 1998
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Aiea's Colby Kagawa, left, tags out Iolani's Sean Isono.
Iolani cashes in on
Aiea errors to advanceThe Raiders escape with a
By Cindy Luis
3-2 victory in the first round of the
state baseball tournament
Star-BulletinHard. Tough. Bad. Aiea had plenty of luck last night at Aloha Stadium. None of it was good.
Two-time defending champion Iolani scored all of its runs on Na Alii errors and survived a controversy-plagued third inning to advance in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association/Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Tournament.
The Raiders' 3-2 first-round victory puts them into tonight's 7 p.m. quarterfinal against second-seeded Maui.
"We're going to have to hit the ball a lot better than we did tonight if we're going to beat Maui," said Iolani coach Dean Yonamine, whose team was held to three hits by Aiea ace Kyle Ishimitsu. "It is a relief to win this one. We knew it was going to be tough.
"I tell the kids, there's going to be nights when we're not going to hit the ball and tonight was one of those nights. But we know if we play good defense and our pitching is on, we're going to be in the ballgame."
In today's other games, Kalani and Roosevelt meet at 9:15 a.m., fourth-seeded Waiakea faces Big Island rival Baldwin at 11:30 a.m, Mililani plays No. 3 seed Waianae at 2 p.m. and Kauai meets top-seeded Mid-Pacific at 4:30 p.m.
Ishimitsu pitched well enough to win, but didn't, despite striking out eight and yielding three singles. But the senior right-hander gave Iolani two critical runs in the second when his pickoff attempt of Tyler Kimura bounced in front of first baseman Michael Ogawa and rolled deep enough into foul territory to allow Marvin Wong to score from third and Kimura from first.
Wong broke a 2-2 tie in the third, lining a full-count pitch into left-center, going to second on a balk and to third on a passed ball. Derek White followed with a shot to deep short. Colby Kagawa's long throw pulled Ogawa off the bag at first, allowing Wong to score the go-ahead run.
Na Alii tied it in the bottom of the third when two balks by reliever Brent Wong allowed Aaron Kagawa to score. The game was held up for some 15 minutes when Yonamine protested the balk interpretation of plate umpire Roy Camello.
Na Alii had the tying run at second and the go-ahead run at first in the bottom of the sixth, but Iolani reliever Erik Yamamoto picked up the save when he struck out Yoshida to end the game.
Iolani (15-5-1) 020 100 0--3 3 1 Aiea (11-3) 011 000 0--2 6 2Kanoa Fong, Brent Wong (2), Erik Yamamoto (5) and Scott Tajima; Kyle Ishimitsu and Ryan Okano.W--Wong. L--Ishimitsu. Sv--Yamamoto.
Leading hitters--Aiea: Aaron Kagawa RBI; David Yoshida 2-4.
Mililani 4, Hilo 1: Great defense and great pitching was the 1-2 punch the Trojans needed to defeat the Vikings.
Senior right-hander Justin Cayetano had his breaking ball working, striking out 11 and yielding five hits. Mililani scored all the runs it needed in the bottom of the first on an error and a sacrifice fly to center by Darin Aihara that brought in Gil Deliz for the go-ahead run.
Hilo threatened briefly in the third when Tyson Nakagawa led off with a triple. Nakagawa tried to score on a flyout to right, but was gunned down at the plate on a one-hop throw from Travis Kochi for an inning-ending double play.
Hilo (10-3) 100 000 0--1 5 5 Mililani (10-4) 201 000 x--4 4 0Shaun Suzuki, Peter Paulo (4) and Rusty Kawachi; Justin Cayetano and Darin Aihara.W--Cayetano. L--Suzuki.
Leading hitters--Hilo: Justin Maeda 2-3, RBI; Tyson Nakagaw 3b. Mil: Darin Aihara RBI; Wayde Murata RBI.
The Red Raiders made the most of their opportunities, using four hits and two Kalani errors to score single runs in the first and third.
The only hit off Quiroz was Shane Komine's lead-off double in the fourth.
Kalani (9-4) 000 000 0--0 1 2 Kauai (8-6) 101 000 x--2 4 0Robert Shimabuku and Collin Funamura; Neto Quiroz and Kwinton Estacio.W--Quiroz. L--Shimabuku.
Leading hitters--Kal: Shane Komine 2b. Kau: Clifton Arakaki 2b.
Junior Fausto Allosada scattered two hits and helped his own cause with a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth. Malcolm Sniffen also had a solo shot in the third for Baldwin.
Roosevelt (9-4) 000 001 0--1 2 2 Baldwin (15-1) 301 001 x--5 11 1Kurt Murata and Chad Kapanui; Fausto Allosada and Kurt Suzuki.W--Allosada. L--Murata.
Leading hitters--Bald: Fausto Allosada 2-4, solo HR; Brandon Murakami 2-3, 2b, RBI; Malcom Sniffen solo HR; Lance Fujii 2-3.
