FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kailua's Derek Mailau beat the tag of Aiea shortstop Jonny Sakurai as he stole second base yesterday. The Surfriders beat Na Alii for the OIA baseball championship at Mililani field.
Kailua has enough
energy to win OIA
Kailua baseball coach Corey Ishigo called his team lazy before the season started and he maintained that opinion yesterday after the Surfriders captured their fourth straight Oahu Interscholastic Association championship by beating Aiea 2-1 at Mililani High School.
"It still hasn't changed. The laziness is still there," Ishigo said. "We made some lazy plays out there today and the players still aren't communicating with each other on the field."
But the Surfriders are intent on proving him wrong.
"We felt bad about it that he called us lazy," said sophomore Ryan Rodrigues, who cranked the winning hit in the top of the seventh inning. "We always try to come out and play hard and prove him wrong. He posted the (preseason) article up on a wall and highlighted the points he wanted us to see. We see that every day and every day we're reminded that we still need to prove him wrong."
If winning the OIA title wasn't enough, then maybe a drive to the championship at this week's state tournament on Maui will do the trick in changing Ishigo's assessment. With the victory (the team's third straight in its final at-bat), Kailua (12-1) wrapped up the league's seed for the states.
Rodrigues' timely hit made the difference in a game dominated by pitchers Chris Mahelona of Kailua and Nelson Hao of Aiea.
Hao, who finished with a six-hitter, had his slider working, but he left one up too high for Rodrigues, who swatted it just inside the left-field line to score Shaun Sasaki from second base with the winning run.
"I thought it was curving foul, but I kept my eye on it," Rodrigues said. "When it went fair, I said to myself, 'Yeah, I got it in. I've done my job.' "
Sasaki started the winning rally with a walk and he moved to second on catcher Sean Medeiros' sacrifice bunt.
It was that kind of execution that Aiea (12-1) was lacking. Na Alii stranded runners in scoring position in four innings. They also had two runners picked off by Medeiros and were the victims of a double play on a failed sacrifice bunt.
"Our game is based on execution," Aiea coach Ryan Kato said. "We had our chances but didn't come through. When you make mistakes like that against a good team like Kailua, you're not going to get away with it."
Kailua's Derek Mailau walked, stole second and scored the game's first run on Kekoa Sua's base hit up the middle in the third inning.
Na Alii came right back for a 1-all tie in the bottom of the third as Jordan Shibata beat out an infield hit and eventually scored on Dylan Libadisos' sacrifice fly to right.
Mahelona, who went into the fifth inning of Thursday's 10-9 victory over Pearl City, silenced Aiea the rest of the way and finished with a six-hitter.
"I was amazed when Rodrigues got the hit, because it came right when it had to come," Mahelona said. "After that, I knew I couldn't let my team down. I was stoked the coach let me stay in all the way."
The junior pitcher described his arm as "completely dead" after throwing 205 pitches over the last three days. He put two Na Alii runners on base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but got Libadisos to fly out to right to end it.
"Chris wanted the ball and he showed it," Ishigo said. "He came out and carried us through.
"It's been tough," the coach added, when asked to expound on the fourth straight league championship. "Aiea is a great team, so I guess the baseball gods are still on our side."
Kato isn't jumping ship on Na Alii after their first loss of the season. He feels good about their chances in this week's states.
"I have not given up hope in them one bit," he said. "My confidence level in them has not changed. We'll come out Monday (to practice) and we'll try again Wednesday (first round of the state tournament). We played catch today, didn't make any errors. We didn't hit as well as we could have, but we'll regroup."
At Mililani H.S. field
Kailua (12-1) 001 000 1 -- 2 6 1 Aiea (12-1) 001 000 0 -- 1 6 0 Chris Mahelona and Sean Medeiros; Nelson Hao and Aaron Asher. W -- Mahelona. L -- Asher.
Leading hitters -- Kail: Michael Kealoha 2-4; Kekoa Sua RBI; Ryan Rodrigues game-winning RBI. Aiea: Taylor Watanabe 2-4, 2b; Dylan Libadisos RBI; Bryson Tajiro 2-3.
THIRD PLACE
Roosevelt 6, Waianae 0
Waianae 000 000 0 -- 0 2 2 Roosevelt 011 400 x -- 6 8 1 Calvin Uyechi, Dillon Guzman (4) and Darryl Ohelo; Cameron Kimura, (7) Ivan Fujii and Kevin Fujii. W -- Kimura. L -- Uyechi.
Leading hitters -- Roos: Kimura 2-3; Jared Furtado 2-3, RBI; Ranson Tamai RBI.
FIFTH PLACE
Kalaheo 4, Pearl City 2
Kalaheo 100 001 2 -- 4 4 2 Pearl City 020 000 0 -- 2 5 1 Kurt Okamura and Jacob Myking; Tony Ganigan, Davin Nakasone (5), Chad Itokazu (7) and Corey Giammalvo. W -- Okamura. L -- Nakasone.
Leading hitters --Kalh: Sean Fernandez 2b, 2 RBI. PC: Michael Higa 2-3, 2b, RBI.
Oahu Interscholastic Association
