HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
Kaiser deals No. 5 Kailua its first loss in OIA play
After suffering one-run defeats against Moanalua and Kalani, the Kaiser baseball team was looking for a reversal of fortune on Friday the 13th.
The Cougars finally got some balls to bounce their way. They scored all their runs with two out in the second inning and held on to upset previously undefeated No. 5 Kailua 5-3 in a crucial Oahu Interscholastic Association East contest last night at Kaiser High School. The Cougars improve to 5-2 in league play, and now stand just one game behind the Surfriders (6-1).
"With our young squad here, we just had to battle," Kaiser coach Peter Ho said of his team, on which six of the nine starters are underclassmen. "These past three games, we've been battling, we've been close, and it's just been a matter of (needing) to get a hit here or there, and the game turns around. They're slowly learning, they're getting better and getting tougher."
After Kailua took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Kainoa Uemoto's home run to center field, the Cougars put together a two-out rally aided by a couple of fortuitous bounces.
Calvin Tashiro drove in Pono Meyer and Mathew Muranaka from second and third after his grounder up the middle bounced off second base and eluded Surfrider shortstop Zach Akamine. Dustin Dela Pena followed with a sharp ground ball down the first base line for a double as the ball bounced off the first-base bag and skipped into right field. Michael Kawashima came home on the hit, and Tashiro scored on right fielder Keenan Tanaka's errant throw, making it 4-1.
Joe Honma plated Dela Pena with a frozen rope up the middle just past Kailua starter Kili Vierra, who was chased from the game after just 1 2/3 innings.
"That's, sometimes, how you win games; you've got to have those lucky bounces," Ho said, smiling. "But during practice we've been trying to (work on) manufacturing runs."
Toby Inouye got the win for Kaiser, limiting the Surfriders to five hits and striking out two in the complete-game effort. But 11 of Kailua's 21 outs were on fly balls, and Inouye noted he was fortunate that Kailua --aside from Uemoto's early blast -- wasn't able to take advantage of a stiff breeze blowing out toward left-center field.
"I was throwing the ball a little high, and that's why there were a lot of pop-ups," Inouye explained.
Kailua tried to come back in the seventh frame, and did add two runs, but it was too little, too late. Surfrider head coach Corey Ishigo was disappointed with the way his squad waited until the game's final inning to rally.
"Toby pitched a good game, he spotted his pitches well, and kept us off-balance," Ishigo said. "Good teams will come back from things that happen throughout a game."
At Kaiser H.S. field
Kailua (6-1) |
010 |
000 |
2 |
-- |
3 |
5 |
1
|
Kaiser (5-2) |
050 |
000 |
x |
-- |
5 |
9 |
2 |
Kili Vierra, Marcus Mathews (2) and Rayner Yokoi. Toby Inouye and Bryce Marcouiller. W--Inouye. L--Vierra.
Leading hitters--Kail: Kainoa Uemoto solo home run. Kais: Calvin Tashiro 2-4, 2 RBIs; Dustin Dela Pena 2b, RBI; Joe Honma 2-3, RBI.
Kalani 6, Moanalua 3
The Falcons' Jason Lee hit a two-run double in the top of the seventh to spark a four-run comeback against Na Menehune.
At Moanalua H.S. field
Kalani (6-1) |
001 |
010 |
4 |
-- |
6 |
8 |
3
|
Moanalua (4-3) |
000 |
300 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
7 |
4 |
Shamus Kumashiro, Micah Takahashi (5) and Jason Lee. Kenson Miyaki, Jordan Hirata (7) and Chris Saguid. W--Takahashi. L--Hirata.
Leading hitters--Kaln: Ridge Carpenter 2-3, 2b; Jordan Sumida 2-3, 3b, 2 RBIs; Lee 2b, 2 RBIs; Keola Wakazuru 2-3. Moan: Jay Yoshizawa 2-4, 2b; Miyaki 2-3; Reid Matsumoto 2b.
OIA WEST
Radford 5, Waipahu 4
Justin Reed hit a leadoff single in the top of the seventh, then parlayed his way to third on an error and wild pitch by the Marauders. Jory Simms hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Reed and give the Rams their first division win of the season.
At Radford H.S. field
Waipahu (1-6) |
001 |
000 |
3 |
-- |
4 |
6 |
5
|
Radford (1-7) |
013 |
000 |
1 |
-- |
5 |
7 |
2 |
Kaimi Haina and Sam Chee. Kyle Blair, Dominic Caggiano (6) and Zach Seitz. W--Caggiano. L--Haina.
Leading hitters--Waip: Triton Gante 3-3, 2b, 3b; Jaris Komuro-Rosete 2b; Eric Hudson 2b. Rad: Justin Reed 2-3; Jory Simms 2-3, 2b, 3 RBIs.
ILH
No. 2 Iolani 8, No. 7 Kamehameha 2
Grant Liu collected four RBIs to power the Raiders past the Warriors.
At Ala Wai Field
Iolani (8-2) |
210 |
104 |
0 |
-- |
8 |
9 |
0
|
Kamehameha (4-4) |
000 |
011 |
0 |
-- |
2 |
7 |
3 |
Kelsey Outram and Grant Iwamoto. Scott Fisher, Chris Pascual (5), John Worthington (6) and Vance Nobriga. W--Outram. L--Fisher.
Leading hitters--Iol: Case Miyahira 3-3, RBI; Reyn Nagamine 2-4, RBI; Grant Liu 2-4, 4 RBIs. Kam: Waylen Sing Chow 3-3, 2b; Nobriga 2b.
No. 4 Mid-Pacific 8, Pac-Five 4
Derek Tan drove in three runs to lead the No. 4 Owls over the Wolfpack.
At Ala Wai Field
Pac-Five (0-11) |
000 |
030 |
1 |
-- |
4 |
5 |
2
|
Mid-Pacific (6-3) |
211 |
004 |
x |
-- |
8 |
8 |
1 |
Ryan DeMello, Tyler Simao (7) and Reid Morihara. Dane Kinoshita, Kase Kaneko (5), Austin Sloan (6), Michael Nagamine (6), Matt McDaniel (7) and Aaron Fujii. W--Kinoshita. L--DeMello.
Leading hitters--P5: Zach Fujimoto 2b, 2 RBIs; Ian Padaken 2b; Travis Ogimi 3b. MPI: Derek Tan 2-4, 3 RBIs; Nagamine 3-3.
No. 1 Punahou 4, Saint Louis 2
Jeeter Ishida struck out nine while issuing just two walks and allowing four hits in a complete game against the Crusaders.
At Central Oahu Regional Park
Saint Louis (1-9) |
100 |
010 |
0 |
-- |
2 |
4 |
2
|
Punahou (10-0) |
000 |
013 |
x |
-- |
4 |
5 |
2 |
Jayson Fukumoto, Kyle Gonzaga (6) and Keoni Haina. Jeeter Ishida and Zach Kometani. W--Ishida. L--Gonzaga.
Leading hitters--StL: Gonzaga 2-2, Ryan Iaea solo HR. Pun: Reece Kiriu 2-2, 2b.