Saturday, May 12, 2001
[ PREP BASEBALL ]
Kaiser's Nathan Ota may look back on his last at-bat against Mililani yesterday as the best fly-out of his baseball career. Kaiser leaves Mililani
in dark, out of playoffs
By Jason Kaneshiro
Star-BulletinMoments after Mililani rightfielder Gainor Nitta squeezed the fly ball to end the bottom of the sixth inning of the Oahu Interscholastic Association playoff game -- at close to 7 p.m. -- the umpires called the game due to darkness, giving Kaiser a 9-7 win and ending Mililani's season.
If the Kaiser hadn't finished its half of the inning before darkness set in, the game would have reverted to a 5-5 tie, the score at the end the previous complete inning. Mililani scored two runs in the top of the sixth inning to a take a 7-5 lead, but Kaiser rallied to score four in the bottom of the frame for the winning margin.
"I was hoping the umpire would call the game, and not finish the inning," said Mililani coach Glenn Nitta. "But obviously he wasn't going to do that. We just ran out of time."
Ota's out was hardly by design, but came at a fortuitous time for the Cougars.
"That would have been a tough decision for anybody to make," Kaiser coach Duke Chinen said, dismissing the notion of having his batter make an intentional out to finish the inning before darkness set in. "We can't just score two runs and feel we can hold Mililani to two runs and win it that way. We need to score as many runs as we can, because we know how tough offensively they are. They're a team that doesn't die and they proved it today. But the sun ran out."
In a see-saw battle, Kaiser just happened to be on top when the sun set on Hawaii Kai and Mililani's season.
"We didn't want to give up," said Chris Gallego, the Kaiser catcher. "It was a matter of this is our home field and we didn't want anybody taking food off our table."
Said Chinen: "That's how we've been playing all year. We've had to wait for the last inning and that's when we came back. Luckily we did it today in the sixth inning ... We played a great team and we have to feel lucky we came away with a win."
Kaiser advances to host Moanalua, which upset Campbell yesterday, in one of today's OIA semifinals. Pearl City travels to Kailua for the other semifinal. The winners move on to Monday's championship game at Hans L'Orange Park and earn berths in the state tournament. The losers will battle for the league's last state tournament bid in the third-place game.
At Kaiser H.S. Field
Game called due to darkness
Mililani (6-4) 200 302 -- 7 8 5 Kaiser (8-2-1) 005 004 -- 9 7 2 Adam Inaba, Weston Kurisu (3), Ryan Nakachi (6), Nick Mizusawa (6) and Kurt Miyahira; Todd Nishihira, Jason Peters (4) and Chris Gallego. W -- Peters. L -- Kurisu
Leading hitters--Mililani: Gainor Nitta, 2-4, 2-run HR; Kurisu, 3-4; Mark Villegas, 2-run HR; Kaiser: Rylen Yamamoto, 2B; David Chu, 3B, 2 RBI.
Moanalua 4, Campbell 3:
Stephan Green scored on a safety squeeze by Mike Miyagi in the sixth inning to give the Menehune the upset over OIA West division regular season champion Sabers.Green led off the with an infield hit and advanced to second on a balk. A base hit by Ronald Yasuda moved Green to third. Miyagi followed with his bunt.
Chad Bailey led Campbell's cause with a four-hitter and 13 strikeouts.
At Campbell H.S. Field
Moanalua (8-3) 200 011 0 -- 4 4 1 Campbell (8-2) 011 010 0 -- 3 8 5 Kyle Nakamichi, Geoffrey Say (7), Brett Tanigawa (7) and Lorin Nakagawa; Chad Bailey and Ikaika Trinidad. W--Nakamichi. L--Bailey
Leading hitters--Moanalua: Stephan Green 2-3 Campbell: Abraham Lobetos 2-3; Keahi Kapana 2-4, triple; Chad Bailey, triple.
Kailua 12, Leilehua 6:
Despite making four errors, the OIA East division champion Surfriders held on to beat the Mules.At Kailua H.S. Field
Leilehua (6-4) 230 000 1 -- 6 10 0 Kailua (9-2) 304 050 x -- 12 13 4 Spencer Omalda, John Dolac (5), BJ Cliston (6) and Jay Baptista; Kawika Kekaula, Kamaile Santos (2) and Cody Texeira-Vickery. W--Santos. L--Omalda.
Leading hitters--Leilehua: Jay Baptista, 2-3, 2 doubles; Matt Omalda, 2-4 ; Kailua: Mike Caphart, double, 2RBI; Travis Hayashida, 2-4; Jory Pearce, 2-3, double; Kamaile Santos, 2-3; Kawika Kekaula, 2-4, double, 2RBI, Jarid Kawamoto, double; Cody Texeira-Vickery, double; Derek Yonamine; 2-3, 2 doubles, 2RBI.
Pearl City 11, Roosevelt 1:
Cory Fujinaga's two-out, two-run single in the third inning kick-started a five-run outburst for Pearl City.Blane Kagamida added some insurance with a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning.
Charger pitcher Jonathan Serapion struck out six Rough Rider batters and walked none.
At Pearl City H.S. Field
Roosevelt (7-3) 000 001 -- 1 2 1 Pearl City (6-3) 005 402 -- 11 12 2 Chris Mols, Gabby Maunupau (3), Matthew Terukina (4), Jason Yasuda (5), Bryson Villanueva (6) and Joey Shimabuku; Jonathan Serapion and Gavin Concepcion. W--Serapion. L--Mols.
Leading hitters--PC: Brandon Yamamoto 2-4, 2B; Blane Kagamida 3-3, 3 2B, 5 RBIs: Erik Mizoshiri 2B; Cory Fujinaga 2-4, 3 RBIs.
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