LIHU‘E — Josh Muneno threw a two-hitter and struck out seven batters to lead the O‘ahu Dirtbags to a 10-0 win over the Lihu‘e Baseball League Bronco Blue Jays, Monday afternoon. The Makakilo Soljahs piled up five runs on five
LIHU‘E — Josh Muneno threw a two-hitter and struck out seven batters to lead the O‘ahu Dirtbags to a 10-0 win over the Lihu‘e Baseball League Bronco Blue Jays, Monday afternoon.
The Makakilo Soljahs piled up five runs on five hits in the fourth inning to pull ahead of the LBL Reds for an 11-5 win on the Mustang field at the LBL Da Bash IV.
Those wins give the Bronco and Mustang division championships to visiting teams in the sixth annual Memorial Day tournament hosted by LBL at Lihu‘e County Park.
The Dirtbags, one of the original participants in the tourney known as Da Bash, relied not only on Muneno’s pitching but went to the long ball to pile up six runs in the first inning for their title win.
Haole Lono and leadoff hitter Justin Matias paced the Dirtbags with 2-2 showings in the box, both hits being doubles. The O‘ahu team finished with 11 hits, seven of which were doubles. Lono and Matias also scored twice. Noah Goss, Codie Paiva and Muneno whacked two-baggers to lead the Dirtbags’ bats.
Kurt Rapozo and Ryland Peahu Kainu each had two hits for the Blue Jays, both singles.
The Soljahs’ Javin Cortez did everything he could to contain himself after the coach relieved him on the mound in the second inning.
Ricky Sandry and Corey Slade crossed to give the Soljahs a 2-0 lead in the first inning, but the LBL Reds came back with four runs on three hits in the second inning before the Soljahs’ coach pulled Cortez, the valiant pitcher biting his lip as Reds’ coach Kyle Oshima stepped onto the field to congratulate the boy on his effort.
That emotion was unwarranted as Cortez came back to finish 2-2 in the batter’s box, whacking a triple and a double including the triple in the fourth when Makakilo collected five runs.
That performance led the Soljahs who finished with nine hits. Kukea Emmsley, the Makakilo first baseman, finished 3-3 with a double and two singles, scoring twice in the win.
Tyler Oshima got aboard on a fielder’s choice to open the Reds’ second inning. Riley Gokan walked before Austen Fernandez got first on another fielder’s choice. Zachary Stem walked, and with two outs CJ Garcia singled before Jance Medeiros walked to force the pitching change.
The Reds’ scored four runs in the frame as Oshima, Gokan, Fernandez and Stem scored.
Slade took the mound duties to close for Makakilo, allowing one run in the sixth inning and five hits.
The Reds finished with eight hits with Oshima drawing the only double. Garcia, Medeiros, Jacob Lombardo, Tayedyn Francisco, Gokan and Katsumi Takata singled for the LBL team.
Cory Gokan was the chair of the annual tournament that started Friday morning and ran through the championship games Monday afternoon.
This year’s tournament featured 32 teams with a wait list of teams wanting to participate in the tournament that started when LBL officials wanted to offer the experience of playing in a “big” tournament to some of its players who would otherwise never have an opportunity to be in a tournament of this magnitude.
Oshima, the LBL president in 2009, said the tournament not only offers teams a chance to visit Kaua‘i, it has an impact on Kaua‘i’s economy as teams overflowed Hamura Saimin and were seen in uniform at Kukui Grove Center.
During the non-playing periods, the LBL organizers offered a Movie in the Park with a spaghetti dinner Saturday night and a lu‘au Sunday night.
