Kauai’s Adachi drops
loss on Pearl City

As Kauai's Aaron Adachi watched the ball drop in safely in right field, he didn't think his line-drive single would be deep enough to score teammate Kirby Yates from second base.

Yates and Red Raiders coach Henry Ibia Jr. had no such doubts.

"I saw him coming and I just said, 'I going chance 'em,' " Ibia said of waving Yates home.

The gamble paid off, as Yates slid around the tag at the plate to give Kauai a 4-3 win over Pearl City in the opening game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship yesterday at Les Murakami Stadium.

Adachi's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning sent the Red Raiders (12-1) into the tournament quarterfinals, where they face defending state champion and top-seeded Punahou today at 4:30 p.m.

Pearl City (8-6) will close its season in the consolation final at noon on Saturday.

"You come here and the odds are against you," Ibia said. "You play in the three-team league, and no matter how many games you win, it don't matter to anybody. But to get a win like this, it's great."

The Red Raiders, the Kauai Interscholastic Federation champions, rallied from a 3-0 deficit and thwarted Pearl City scoring opportunities in the late innings to set up the game's dramatic conclusion.

Although he struggled with his command for most of the afternoon, Yates, the younger brother of New York Mets pitcher Tyler Yates, struck out nine over seven innings on the mound.

He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and right fielder Blake Gingerich threw out a runner at the plate in the eighth to keep the game knotted at 3-3.

"We had our chances, but sometimes it just doesn't go your way," Pearl City coach Mel Seki said.

Pearl City went ahead in the bottom of the first inning on Tate Ikehara's two-run triple to the left-center gap and added a run in the second when Anthony Sabog scampered home on a passed ball.

The Red Raiders cut into the lead in the bottom of the second on Andrew Renaud's squeeze bunt to score Micah Hee and an RBI single to right by Shannon Oketani.

After Adachi tripled to left field to lead off the fourth, Renaud pushed another sacrifice bunt up the first-base line, allowing Adachi to score easily to tie the game.

Yates got himself into trouble in the sixth by walking Thomas Yamasaki and hitting the next two batters to load the bases with one out. He battled back to strike out Rylan Nakahata and got Kurt Tanabe to fly out to end the inning.

He closed his outing by striking out the side on nine pitches in the top of the seventh.

"To put yourself in that situation, the only thing is to pitch your way out of it," Yates said. "I just went out with the mentality that this could be my last inning in high school and I just forgot about everything that happened in the other innings."

Yates walked to lead off the bottom of the eighth and advanced on Kauai's fifth sacrifice bunt of the game. With two out, Adachi lined a single to right, but didn't think he had ended the game.

"I hit the ball and I looked at the right fielder and he was right there," Adachi said. "I rounded the base and I looked at third and (Yates) was already going."

Ikehara's throw was on target, but Yates slid to the right of the catcher and reached out with his left hand to touch the plate.

"I knew I had to score -- it was the only chance we were going to get late in the ballgame," Yates said.

At Les Murakami Stadium

Pearl City (8-6)	210	000	00	--	3	5	2
Kauai (12-1)	020	100	01	--	4	4	1

Craig Calantoc, Matthew Ko (5) and Rylan Nakahata. Kirby Yates, Stanton Yoshimori (8) and Aaron Adachi. W--Yoshimori . L--Ko.
Leading hitters--PC: Tate Ikehara 3b, 2 RBIs. Kauai: Aaron Adachi 2-3, 3b, RBI; Andrew Renaud 2 RBIs.

Kamehameha 4, Aiea 1

Warrior left-hander David Parrow struck out eight and scattered four hits as Kamehameha advanced to a quarterfinal meeting with third-seeded Baldwin.

Kamehameha and Baldwin meet today at 2 p.m. Aiea plays Kamehameha-Hawaii in a consolation bracket game tomorrow at 10 a.m.

The Warriors (17-5) scored single runs in the third through sixth innings to give Parrow ample support. The senior allowed just one Aiea runner to reach second base in the final four innings.

"I felt stronger in the seventh than in the first. I felt that seventh inning was my peak," Parrow said.

"The first game's always the toughest to win. But we've got a good pitching staff; we've just got to throw strikes."

Aiea (9-5) scored its lone run in the bottom of the second when Shane Koga doubled to right, went to third on a passed ball and scored on a balk.

Kamehameha answered in the third as Jayson Rego reached second on a throwing error to lead off the inning and scored on Ryson Mauricio's single to left. The Warriors took the lead the next inning when Jamie Smeigh drilled a single to right to score Shelton Honda from second.

Stuart Kam gave Kamehameha a bit of a cushion in the fifth with a line-drive double to right-center to score Mauricio from first base. The Warriors scored their final run in the sixth as Kamu Freitas followed Makana Kitamura's bunt single with a triple into the right-field corner.

"The big negative tonight was our baserunning. We ran ourselves out of a couple of innings, but we were fortunate to still get through it," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said.

At Les Murakami Stadium

Kamehameha (17-5)	001	111	0	--	4	7	1
Aiea (9-5)	010	000	0	--	1	4	2

David Parrow and Stuart Kam. Kahoku Piho, Cody Aquino (5) and Brian Morihara. W--Parrow. L--Piho.
Leading hitters--Kam: Ryson Mauricio 2-4, 2b, RBI; Kam 2b, RBI; Makana Kitamura 2-3; Kamu Freitas 3b, RBI. Aiea: Shane Koga 2b; Kurt Nishi 2-3.

HHSAA baseball

At Les Murakami Stadium
Seeds: 1. Punahou. 2. Kailua. 3. Baldwin. 4. Waiakea.

yesterday
Game 1: Canceled, Maui pulled out of the tournament
2: Kauai 4, Pearl City 3, 8 innings
3: Mililani 8, Kamehameha-Hawaii 2
4: Kamehameha 4, Aiea 1

Today
6: Waiakea vs. Moanalua, 11:30 a.m.
7: Baldwin vs. Kamehameha, 2 p.m.
8: Punahou vs. Kauai, 4:30 p.m.
9: Kailua vs. Mililani, 7 p.m.