Big Isle baseball Warriors advance
Now that Kamehameha-Hawaii has got the monkey off its back, Tyson Goo and company have a state championship in sight.
Goo reached base in all four plate appearances and scored three runs to lead the Warriors past St. Anthony 8-3 yesterday in the quarterfinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships at Les Murakami Stadium.
The Big Island Interscholastic Federation runner-ups will face top-seeded Punahou tonight at 8 in the second semifinal game.
"We got that first win we haven't had before and we won our second game, so it's exciting," Goo said. "There's not any pressure. It's just fun."
The Warriors, who won their first state tournament opener in the school's short history on Wednesday, backed it up with an offensive explosion yesterday. Kamehameha-Hawaii hammered 13 hits and scored in five of the first six innings. Only one starter didn't get a hit as the Warriors became the first Big Island team other than Waiakea to reach the state semifinals since 1999.
"That's how we have been doing it all year," Kamehameha-Hawaii coach Andy Correa said. "If they pitch around some guys, the other guys will come through."
Goo, who went hitless in the opener, was 3-for-3 with a double and scored the Warriors' first two runs of the game. The Trojans took a 2-1 lead in the first inning, but Kamehameha-Hawaii answered with four runs in the third inning. Goo's single with one out started a stretch of seven consecutive runners to reach base, highlighted by Trysen Cosier's two-run double.
Aaron Uehara gave the Trojans a run back in the bottom of the inning when he bunted Jordan Kahalekai-Bermoy home to make it a 5-3 game. But the Trojans wouldn't get another runner past second base as Warriors starter Blake Amaral held them to just three hits and no walks over the final four innings to earn the complete-game victory.
"We tried to get (Amaral) to keep the ball down a little bit more and once he did that, we got the outs," Correa said.
Uehara drove in two runs and was one of three Trojans with two hits. It was a tough loss for the Maui Interscholastic League champions, but the future is bright as the Trojans don't have a senior on their 18-man roster.
"We thought it would be a problem with not having a leader, but this team does a great job of sticking together," St. Anthony coach Shane Dudoit said. "They push each other and challenge each other like they are all leaders."
The Trojans will play Hilo for a spot in the fifth-place game today at 12:30 p.m.
At Les Murakami Stadium
Kam.-Hawaii (13-3) |
104 |
111 |
0 |
-- |
8 |
13 |
1
|
St. Anthony (10-4) |
201 |
000 |
0 |
-- |
3 |
7 |
0 |
Blake Amaral and Kolten Wong. Michael Jahns, Aronne Santos (6) and Aaron Uehara.
W--Amaral.
L--Jahns.
Leading hitters--KSH: Tyson Goo 3-3, 2b, 3 runs; Wong 1-2, 2b, run, 2 RBIs; Amaral 2-4, sb; Kulani Soares 2-3, RBI; Kelii Kimi 2-4, 2b, RBI; Russell Kackley 1-3, 2b, 2 RBIs. StAnt: Jahns 2-3, run; Matthew McCraney 2-3, sb; Uehara 2-3, 2 RBIs.
Kaiser 2, Waiakea 1
The Cougars scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the second inning and Zachary Wong and Toby Inouye combined to hold the Warriors to just one run and five hits as the unseeded Cougars stunned the BIIF champions in a quarterfinal.
Richie Chinen scored the lone Warriors run. Wong gave up one run over five innings while striking out three to earn the victory. Inouye pitched two innings of one-hit relief for the save, just 24 hours after earning a complete-game victory in the opening round.
At Les Murakami Stadium
Waiakea (12-2) |
010 |
000 |
0 |
-- |
1 |
5 |
1
|
Kaiser (11-5) |
020 |
000 |
X |
-- |
2 |
4 |
2 |
Michael Inaba and Rory Inouye. Zachary Wong, Toby Inouye (6) and Bryce Marcouiller.
W--Wong.
L--Inaba.
S--Inouye.
Leading hitters--Waik: Inouye 2-3, RBI.