KAPA`A— Like two great heavyweights, the league-leading Kapa’a Warriors and defending champion Kaua’i Red Raiders battled for respect and second round supremacy throughout Saturday’s baseball doubleheader at the Ron Martin Field. The exciting split of games (Kaua’i 5-4 in the
KAPA`A— Like two great heavyweights, the league-leading Kapa’a Warriors and
defending champion Kaua’i Red Raiders battled for respect and second round
supremacy throughout Saturday’s baseball doubleheader at the Ron Martin
Field.
The exciting split of games (Kaua’i 5-4 in the 10-inning opener and
Kapa’a 9-3 in the finale) left fans and participants salivating over the
potential importance of the regular season-ending clash on Wednesday, May 3
between these two teams.
Kaua’i 5 Kapa’a 4
(10 Innings)
The
pitching matchup that fans had eagerly anticipated since the start of the
season was finally realized as Kapa’a’s Kaleo Lopez took the hill against
Raiders’ Mark Rodrigues.
It would, however, be another Kaua’i hurler that
would later control the outcome of Saturday’s opener.
Kaua’i quickly
struck for the contest’s initial run as Scott Serizawa beat out a chopper over
the mound to start the game.
Tyler Kobayashi’s bunt was fielded and
relayed to second in an attempt to eliminate the lead-off runner, but the throw
went into center field.
Jason Koga’s grounder was fielded at third to force
Serizawa for the inning’s first out. KIF batting leader Mark Rodrigues singled
up the box to load the bags, and Kainoa Santos lined a sharp single to score
Kobayashi for a 1-0 lead.
A well-timed Furtado-Matsukawa-Rapozo double play
ended the Raider threat.
Kapa’a responded in the bottom half as Ikaika
Pezario stroked a single to right, moved to second on Justin Matsukawa’s
sacrifice bunt, and took third on Micah Furtado’s single to left.
Rodrigues
blazed a third strike past the next Warrior hitter and Furtado stole second on
the first offering to Lopez.
Battling an 0-2 count, Lopez deposited a
single into center to score Pezario and Furtado to put the Warriors ahead
2-1.
Chris Lary entered to run for the pitcher and took third as an
attempted pickoff throw went awry. Sean Tamura chopped a high infield single to
score Lary with Kapa’a’s third run.
Both teams were held in check until
Koga singled to start the Raider sixth. Rodrigues doubled to the gap in left
center to drive in Koga from first and cut the lead to 3-2.
Santos’ fly out
to right allowed Rodrigues to tag up to third and Kwinton Estacio’s sacrifice
fly brought in the big left-hander with the tying run.
Both teams failed
to score in their respective halves of the seventh and the nail-biter went into
extra innings.
In the bottom of the eighth, Rodrigues struck out the first
two batters he faced. He was then moved defensively to first base as he reached
the maximum allowable innings a pitcher may throw each week (30 outs or 10
innings).
Rodrigues had also pitched 2-1/3 innings of relief in Wednesday’s
victory against the Waimea Menehunes. Levi Rapozo was moved to the hill in
relief and finished the inning unscathed.
Estacio led off the Raider ninth
with a four-pitch walk and was moved to second on Casey Oketani’s
sacrifice.
Estacio tagged and moved to third on Kamanu Grace’s fly out to
right and scored on a subsequent Kapa’a throwing error to push the Raiders back
in front 4-3.
Kapa’a rallied again to tie the game as Robert Merkel was
unintentionally plunked and Kaili Panui replaced him on the bases.
Panui
moved to second on a Pezario sac bunt and scored on Justin Matsukawa’s hard
single to left.
Rodrigues rapped a one-out triple in the top of the tenth
and scored the winning run as the relay to the bag was thrown away.
Rapozo
pitched a 1-2-3 bottom half to end the contest and pick up his second victory
of the season.
Rodrigues led the Raider offensive attack with 4 hits
(triple, double, 2 singles) and scored twice. Teammates Santos and Estacio also
paired singles in the game.
Lopez had 2 singles (2 RBI’s) and Miyashiro
doubled to spearhead the Warrior offense.
Lopez went the full 10 innings
for Kapa’a and gave up 5 runs (3 earned) on 12 hits, 3 walks, and 2 HBP. He
also struck out 4 Raider batters.
Rodrigues gave up 3 runs in 7-2/3
innings worked on 7 hits and 2 walks (striking out 7). Rapozo went the final
2-1/3 innings, giving up a lone unearned run on a hit, a walk and a hit batter.
Both teams committed 2 errors; the Raiders also left 10 men on base
while Kapa’a stranded 9.
Kapa’a 9 Kaua’i 3
The second game proved
to be no contest as the Warriors got off to another hot start while keeping the
Raider offense under control.
The Raiders managed 2 hits off Warrior
starter Allen Mundon to begin the contest but failed to cash in.
The
Warriors, however, were not so charitable. Lead-off batter Pezario blasted
Raider hurler Jeremy Yeats’ second offering over the right field fence to
quickly put Kapa’a up 1-0.
Mundon led off the home half of the second by
lining a single past Koga at short. Tamura, showing bunt, slapped a single past
third and both runners advanced on a passed ball.
Miyashiro’s sac fly
brought in Mundon from third for a 2-0 Warrior lead.
Koga took to the
mound in relief of Yeats in the bottom of the third. The Warriors failed to
score despite getting 2 walks in the inning.
Kapa’a broke open the contest
in the fifth as Pezario doubled just inside the left field line. Matsukawa
followed with a sharp single to left, but the relay from Grace and Santos to
Estacio nabbed the sliding Pezario at the plate.
Furtado doubled past a
diving Kobayashi in right to score Matsukawa from first. Consecutive walks to
Lopez and Mundon loaded the bases prompting a visit from Raider Pitching Coach
Tommy Cox.
Tamura blooped a single over a drawn-in Raider infield to score
Furtado and put the Warriors in front 4-0.
A walk to Miyashiro forced in
Tyler Wakuta (running for Lopez) and Yeats and Koga again exchanged positions
in the infield. Mundon sprinted home easily on Branden Bonilla’s surprise sac
squeeze bunt for Kapa’a’s sixth run and Merkel ripped a double to left to drive
in Tamura and Miyashiro.
Pezario’s twisting ground-rule double to right
(his second two-bagger of the frame) scored Merkel with the Warrior’s ninth and
final run.
Mundon, in control from the start, showed signs of fatigue in
the seventh but refused to buckle under Raider pressure.
Koga and Santos
rapped singles into left and Estacio walked on 4 pitches to load the
bags.
After a brief visit by Kapa’a Head Coach Shannon Masada, Mundon
induced a Yeats ground ball back to the mound to force Koga at the
plate.
RBI singles by Grace and Melchor drove home Santos and Estacio to
put the Raiders on the scoreboard. Bonilla caught up to a fly ball in short
right field for the second out, but Kobayashi’s soft bounder up the middle
scored Regis Canales (running for Yeats) to cut the lead to 9-3.
With the
bags still full, Rodrigues (with 2 home runs on the season) grounded a
full-count delivery wide of the first base bag. As Warrior fans collectively
held their breaths, Lopez fielded the tough chance and dove to the bag just
ahead of the runner to end the contest and stifle the Raider comeback bid.
Pezario led Kapa’a with 3 hits (home run, double, single), a walk and 2
RBI’s. Furtado (2 doubles), Tamura (2 singles) and Merkel (double, 2 RBI’s)
were additional major contributors to the Warrior offensive display. Miyashiro
also drove in 2 runs with a sac fly and a bases-loaded walk.
Kobayashi had
three hits (triple, 2 singles) and Koga a pair (2 singles) for the Raiders.
Kobayashi, Grace and Kendrick Melchor each knocked in a run.
Mundon, in
picking up his second victory, scattered 10 hits over 7 innings and issued 1
walk, while striking out 2.
The first round champion Warriors rapped out
11 hits and walked 5 times to run their overall record to 8-2 (3-1 in the
second round) and maintain a slim half-game lead over the Raiders. The Raiders
(5-4 overall), by virtue of their comeback victory in the day’s first ball
game, jumped back into the second round fray with a 2-1 record.
Kapa’a
will travel to the Hanapepe Ball Park on Wednesday, April 26 to take on the
Waimea Menehunes (1-8, 0-3) in a 2:45 p.m. contest.
