Kapaa High School’s varsity baseball team advanced to the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball State Championships–Division II state tournament.
The No. 3 seeded Warriors of the Kauai Interscholastic Federation defeated Waianae of the Oahu Interscholastic Association in the quarterfinals, 9-3, on Wednesday at Hans L’Orange Field in Waipahu.
In the semifinals, Kapaa will either face No. 2 Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation or Radford of the OIA. The result of the KS-Hawaii and Radford game was not available by press time.
That semifinals game is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
“The focus is tomorrow. The focus is whoever we end up playing,” said Kapaa head coach Bryan Aiwohi in a phone interview Wednesday. “We’re not sure who we’re going to pitch yet. We’re looking at our options. Everybody’s available except (Wednesday’s starter Ka’imi Malina). We’re going to have a meeting tonight and figure out what we’re going to do tomorrow.”
Aiwohi said the team’s pitchers did well in the opening round game.
“Kai’mi pitched a good game. We maxed him out at 105, but he did a good job. He got us through the fifth inning,” he said. “Kade Kupihea came in and shut the door on them. We had some timely hits. We did some stealing, some bunt-and-runs and stuff, and put the pressure on them. And we got the runs.”
With a 4-3 lead, Kapaa (12-3, 1-0 HHSAA) scored five runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“They changed the pitcher on us, and we started hitting off the next guy,” Aiwohi said. “We started stringing the hits, and then good things happened. They started walking a bit, and we started stringing hits. When you can do that, you can score runs.”
Facing a 3-1 deficit going into the top of the fifth, Waianae leveled the score with two runs plated in the inning.
“Hans L’Orange is a big field. Our outfielders had to cover some ground out there,” Aiwohi said. “Those Waianae guys can hit the ball. They hit some bombs, and our guys had to make some big-time running catches out there. A couple of them got over our runners. It’s a big field, and I don’t think it gets any smaller at Les Murakami either.”
Kapaa got nine runs on eight hits and had one error. Warriors third baseman Ekolu Rivera was 2-3 with an RBI and scored one run. Kupihea, who started the game as the second baseman, was 1-3 with an RBI and scored two runs.
Malina got the win for Kapaa. In five innings, Malina gave up three earned runs on six hits and had four strikeouts and three walks.
Kupihea got the save. In two innings, he gave up no runs on one hit and had one strikeout and one walk.
Waianae got three runs on seven hits and had two errors. Seariders catcher Rico Rosario was 2-3 with an RBI and a run.
Waianae starter Kaleo Akiona took the loss. In 5 1/3 innings, he gave up seven runs on seven hits and had three strikeouts and two walks.
Information from Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
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Nick Celario, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or ncelario@thegardenisland.com.
