ASSOCIATED PRESS
Waiakea shortstop David Rodrigues tagged out Aiea's Aaron Sato yesterday.
Kailua rallies -- again
-- to reach semifinals
There are two distinctly different Kailua baseball teams this year. There's the squad that meanders through the first six innings of a ballgame. Then there's the powerhouse that shows up for the seventh.
Last week, the Surfriders won three straight games by scoring in their final at-bat to win the Oahu Interscholastic Association tournament. They made it four in a row yesterday by rallying past Roosevelt 7-3 in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship at Iron Maehara Stadium.
State baseball
At Iron Maehara Stadium, Wailuku, Maui
YESTERDAY
Game 5: Maui 8, Kalaheo 7
Game 6: Kailua 7, Roosevelt 3
Game 7: Waiakea 2, Aiea 1 (8 innings)
Game 8: Kamehameha 5, Kauai 2
Game 9: Mid-Pacific 9, Baldwin 6
TODAY
Game 10: Hilo vs. Waianae, 9:30 a.m.
Game 11: Aiea vs. Kauai, noon
Game 12: Roosevelt vs. Baldwin, 2:30 p.m.
Game 13: Kailua vs. Mid-Pacific, 5 p.m.
Game 14: Waiakea vs. Kamehameha, 7:30 p.m.
TOMORROW
Consolation: Maui vs. winner of Game 10, noon
Fifth place: Winners of Games 11 and 12, 2:30 p.m.
Third place: Losers of Games 13 and 14, 5 p.m.
First place: Winners of Games 13 and 14, 8 p.m.
Kailua trailed 3-2 with one out in the seventh inning, but scored five runs off Roosevelt ace Kaimi Mead to stun the Rough Riders and advance to today's semifinals.
"Once we get down we always stay down until the last inning. That's what happened the whole season," said Kailua junior Michael Kealoha, who earned the pitching win and also hit a solo home run in the third and doubled in the tying run in the seventh.
"The seventh inning is always the inning we get up, cheer and go off. Everybody cruises until the seventh, then the last inning everybody gets up."
Kailua faces Mid-Pacific in a semifinal today at 5 p.m. Kamehameha and Waiakea meet in the second semifinal at 7:30.
Mead handcuffed the Surfriders through the first six innings, striking out 12 Surfriders.
Kealoha took advantage of one of Mead's few mistakes by hammering a fastball over the left-field fence in the top of the third inning. It was only the second homer to leave Maehara Stadium this season.
Kailua starter Christopher Mahelona struck out eight Roosevelt batters in four innings, but ran into trouble in the third and Roosevelt took a 2-1 on Jared Furtado's two-run bloop single.
The Rough Riders added another run in the fifth on Cameron Kimura's RBI single and threatened to break the game open by loading the bases with no outs. Kealoha came in to relieve Mahelona and kept the Surfriders close by striking out the side.
Kailua scored a run in the sixth to tighten the score and set the scene for the seventh.
"I was just happy the game was close and we had a chance," Kailua coach Corey Ishigo said. "I told our guys to stick around, keep the game as close as we can and see what happens."
Although the Surfriders had taken Mead's best over the first six innings, they also forced him to throw 110 pitches going into the seventh.
"It didn't look like the Kaimi of the first six innings," Ishigo said. "I thought he was a little tired. He wasn't the same."
With one out, William Kamalamalama singled and pinch hitter Ho'o Obed walked. Kealoha then ripped a 1-0 fastball into the left-center gap to score pinch runner Keahi Goo with the tying run.
Shaun Sasaki put Kailua in front with a two-run single to left to bring home Obed and Kealoha. Sean Medeiros kept the rally going with an RBI single to left to score Kekoa Sua and put Kailua up 6-3.
Jordan Montgomery scored the final run of the inning on a wild pitch. However, he was ejected for taunting Mead and is suspended for today's game.
Mead was taken out of the game after throwing 139 pitches and Derek Shigano finished the inning.
"(Mead) lost some pop off his fastball, but he went past that point before," Roosevelt coach Kerry Higa said. "He went all that way and he wants the ball and I'm not going to take that away from him. We'll live and die with our best.
"They hit him," Higa added. "If he makes a mistake, they still have to execute and hit the ball and they did that."
The Rough Riders went down in the bottom of the inning and will face Baldwin in a fifth-place bracket game today at 2:30 p.m.
Kailua (13-1) 001 001 5 -- 7 10 3 Roosevelt (10-5) 002 010 0 -- 3 5 1
Christopher Mahelona, Michael Kealoha (5) and Sean Medeiros, Hoo Obed (7); Kaimi Mead, Derek Shigano (7) and Kevin Fujii. W--Kealoha. L--Mead.Leading hitters--Kailua: Kealoha, 2-3, 2b, solo HR, 2 RBIs; Shaun Sasaki 2 RBIs; Cody Texeira-Vickery 2-3, RBI; Medeiros 2-4, RBI. Roosevelt: Jared Furtado 2 RBIs; Daniel Taniguchi 2b.
Waiakea 2, Aiea 1 (8 innings)
Avery Kagawa's bases-loaded single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning scored David Rodrigues with the winning run and sent the Warriors into the semifinals.
Waiakea pitcher Myles Ioane struck out eight in a complete-game victory. Aiea's Nelson Hao gave up a run in the first inning, but shut out the Warriors for six innings.
Waiakea led off the eighth with a single by pinch hitter Ronnie Loeffler. Rodrigues went in to run for Loeffler and went to second on a balk. Owen Otsuka reached on a fielder's choice. After an intentional walk to Shannon Camero, Kagawa bounced a single into left field for the game-winner.
Aiea scored its lone run the fifth when ninth-place hitter Jonny Sakurai hit a triple to the left-center field gap to score Dustin Grace.
Aiea (13-2) 000 010 00 -- 1 3 2 Waiakea (13-0) 100 000 01 -- 2 6 3
Nelson Hao and Aaron Asher. Myles Ioane and Avery Kagawa. W--Ioane. L--Hao.Leading hitters--Aiea: Jonny Sakurai 3b, RBI. Waiakea: Kagawa 2-4, game-winning RBI; Owen Otsuka 2-3.
Kamehameha 5, Kauai 2
The top-seeded Warriors used a four-run third inning rally to erase Kauai's 2-0 lead to move on to the semifinals.
Kauai scored single runs in the second and third innings to take the early lead on the ILH champions. Shawn Ogata drew a bases-loaded walk in the second and Kirby Yates scored on a squeeze bunt by Daryl Higashi in the third.
Kamehameha came back in the bottom of the third as Ryson Mauricio slammed a bases-clearing double to the center-field fence to give the Warriors the lead for good.
Kamehameha relief pitchers Jacob Cockett, Kaulana Chang and Isaac Kamai shutout Kauai the rest of the way. The Red Raiders stranded 10 runners.
Other than the fourth inning, Kauai pitcher Alec Reichle kept Kamehameha off balance in a complete-game performance, but took the loss.
Kauai (10-5) 011 000 0 -- 2 6 0 Kamehameha (17-3) 004 001 x -- 5 8 1
Alec Reichle and Daryl Higashi; David Parrow, Jacob Cockett (4), Kaulana Chang (5), Isaac Kamai (7) and Baba Merino. W--Chang. L--Reichle. S--Kamai.Leading hitters--Kauai: Jake Oketani 2-3, 2b; Reichle 2-2, 2b. Kamehameha: Ryson Mauricio 3-3, 2b, 3 RBIs.
Mid-Pacific 9, Baldwin 6
Grant Yamaguchi's bases-loaded double to center field highlighted a six-run Owls outburst in the fifth inning as Mid-Pacific overcame a five-run deficit to knock off the third-seeded Bears.
Baldwin pounded MPI pitching for three runs in the first inning and two more in the second.
Owls reliever Jayson Kramer silenced the Baldwin bats between the third and sixth innings, giving MPI the opportunity to mount its rally.
The Owls strung together four hits and were aided by an error to score six runs after two were out in the fifth. Randy Rundgren drove in two runs with a single to cut MPI's deficit to 5-4 and Yamaguchi's double gave the Owls the lead for good.
Baldwin put two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, but Harrison Kuroda retired the next three batters to earn the save.
Mid-Pacific (14-8-1) 001 062 0 -- 9 10 2 Baldwin (17-4) 320 001 0 -- 6 8 3
Conan Young, Jayson Kramer (1), Harrison Kuroda (7) and Kip Masuda; Jon Honda, Shevis Shima (6) and Meade Tabata. W--Kramer. L--Honda. S--Kuroda.Leading hitters--MPI: Jonathan Hee 2-3, 2b, 2 RBIs; Keven Whalen 2-4, RBI; Randy Rundgren 2 RBIs; Grant Yamaguchi 2b, 3 RBIs. Baldwin: Gered Mochizuki 2-4, 3b, RBI; JJ Eno 2-3, 2b, 2 RBIs; Tabata 2b, RBI.
CONSOLATION
Maui 8, Kalaheo 7The Sabers took advantage of 10 walks by Kalaheo pitchers to advance to tomorrow's consolation final.
The game was called after 4 1/2 innings due to the tournament's time limit.
Kalaheo (8-8) 311 11 -- 7 8 3 Maui (18-5) 040 4x -- 8 3 4
Sean Fernandez, Kalani Lingo (3), Sonny Harbottle (4), Kurt Okumura (4) and Jacob Myking. Jared Davis, Joseph Kala (3), Jon Cayan (5) and Gavin Takamura. W--Kala. L--Harbottle.Leading hitters--Kalaheo: Fernandez 2b, RBI; Aren Viveros 2-3, Eric Mau 2b.
