HANAPEPE — To put it politely, the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders limped through the first half of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation baseball season. A fact no one could have recognized Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium, as Kaua‘i went on to deal
HANAPEPE — To put it politely, the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders limped through the first half of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation baseball season. A fact no one could have recognized Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium, as Kaua‘i went on to deal Waimea High School its first two losses of the season, sweeping the Menehune in a doubleheader.
Game one
The early game was highlighted by pitching. Kaua‘i’s Cal Koga made his first start of the season and was brilliant. Koga went all seven innings and gave up just three hits, one run and struck out four while leading Kaua‘i to a 5-1 win.
The lone run Koga gave up was a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning from Waimea catcher Brock Ephan.
“We have been working (Koga) a lot,” Kaua‘i Head Coach Ryden Domingsel said. “We had to make some adjustments after the first round in regards to what we were trying to do. We wanted to come with a different look this time. He threw well and kept us in the ball game and made pitches when he had to.”
Koga’s outing was even more impressive due to the fact that it was a 1-0 game headed into the seventh inning.
Kaua‘i’s offensive woes have been well chronicled this season, and game one was no exception until the top half of the seventh. The Red Raiders’ offense woke up from its long slumber to the tune of four runs on three hits, which was aided by some sloppy Menehune defense.
Shane Ogata finished the game 2 for 3 while freshman Micah Layosa had two RBIs.
“I know after the first round our bats were pretty much gone,” Domingsel said. “We have done some different things this past week in practice and it looked like it paid off. They clutched up when they had to and all the credit goes to them.”
Game two
The nightcap could not have played out more differently. Not only were the Red Raiders down early, but they were down big. Waimea came out hot and jumped out to a 9-0 lead after just two innings.
Kaua‘i’s offense would not lay dormant long. It would explode at different moments in the game and claw itself back to 15-10 win in a boat race of game that ended in nine innings.
Kaua‘i had a number of stand-out players — Koga, Layosa, Ogata, Tyler Manibog, Nick Vallatini and Dreyke Smith-Butac all had multi-hit games.
Vallatini had two doubles and two RBIs.
Layosa leads the Red Raiders in batting average (.300), hits and extra base hits.
Waimea was not without its sluggers — Ephan went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two doubles. Justin Silva went 2 for 5 with an RBI.
“You know Kaua‘i High School has a talented team,” said Waimea Head Coach Michael Rita. “The first game (Kaua‘i) played well and deserved to win. The second one they never relaxed and they kept grinding and won the game.”
With its young team, Kaua‘i may be able to make some noise in the second half if it can keep its offensive momentum rolling.
An interesting fact is that Kaua‘i equaled the amount of runs it scored in its previous seven games combined in the second game alone.
With the sweep Kaua‘i is now 2-6 and preparing itself for the Kapa‘a High School Warriors on Wednesday at Vidinha Stadium.
Waimea falls to 6-2 and will have a week to gather itself for the Warriors in a doubleheader at Ron Martin Field in Kapa‘a.
• Rick Killeen, sports writer, can be reached at 245-0437 or sports@thegardenisland.com.
