LIHU‘E — Waimea XXX came out victorious among 68 teams at the 27th Annual Family Stores Hawai‘i High School Alumni Softball Tournament, which took place from Aug. 4-8. Six of the teams participating in the slow pitch event were from
LIHU‘E — Waimea XXX came out victorious among 68 teams at the 27th Annual Family Stores Hawai‘i High School Alumni Softball Tournament, which took place from Aug. 4-8.
Six of the teams participating in the slow pitch event were from Kaua‘i, with four of them Waimea High School alumni groups. Kaua‘i High School and Kapa‘a High School had one team each, with the double-elimination tournament being held at Central O‘ahu Regional Park and Lanakila Park.
Sunday’s championship game ended in a 22-8, six-inning rout for Waimea XXX over the Wai‘anae Fat Katz.
It marked just the third time that a neighbor island squad came away with the title.
The team’s road to the championship began with a victory over St. Louis on Friday. It followed that up with wins over both Mid-Pac and Roosevelt in Saturday’s action to move on in the winner’s bracket.
It then made short work of ‘Iolani, as the mercy rule was employed in a 13-3, five-inning victory to begin Sunday’s action.
Next up was Kohala of the Big Island, which held a three-run advantage over Waimea XXX in the seventh inning, but the Westside team fought back to come away with a 15-11 victory.
Next up was a chance to head into the championship round against Wai‘anae Fat Katz, one of the XXX rivals throughout the years. Having come up short in most of their matchups in the past, XXX turned the tables this time around, shutting out the Fat Katz in a 6-0 victory.
As the only unbeaten team remaining, XXX now had the opportunity to rest and see who their final opponent would be, as a number of teams still had to play their way through the loser’s bracket.
It wound up being the Fat Katz again, who were again overmatched by the eventual champs. XXX scored their 22 runs on 22 hits, including four home runs — two off the bat of Kaua Aranio, one from Ashley Vidinha and one from Mason Lorenzo.
Dwyle Lee’s pitching helped XXX to the championship, as did clutch hitting and solid defense throughout.
Vidinha was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, with the team also earning the Sportsmanship Award.
The victory earned a cash scholarship, which will benefit a student at Waimea High School.
