LIHU‘E — Following a split result of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation baseball games played on Saturday, there will be a playoff on Tuesday, starting at 6 p.m. at Vidinha Stadium.
Kaua‘i High School and Kapa‘a High School met Saturday for a make-up game that was rained out earlier in the month before a crowd that included some members of the KIF softball games played at the Isenberg Park.
Those softball contests also finished split with Waimea claiming the KIF second place berth with an 11-9 victory over Kaua‘i High School, who went on to claim the nightcap with a 7-1 win over the Menehune. The second place berth for Waimea forces a play-in contest against Damien High School, the second place O‘ahu Interscholastic Association finisher.
The play-in contest will take place on Kaua‘i (probably at Waimea Canyon Park) on Friday at a time to be determined. The winner of the play-in game will advance to the 2024 Datahouse Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association, Division II softball championships that will play on O‘ahu from May 14 through 17.
Kapa‘a High School, which claimed the Central Pacific Bank KIF softball championship with an undefeated 12-0 record, will also be participating in the DII championships.
On the baseball diamond, Kaua‘i dropped the opener, 6-2 to Kapa‘a before rebounding for a 9-4 win in the nightcap to force the Tuesday playoff after both teams are tied for the second round with two losses apiece.
Going into extra innings on Game 1, Kapa‘a broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning by pushing home four runs on two big hits for the win that came on five Kapa‘a hits, three coming in the eighth frame.
With one away, Apo Kuhaulua who had earlier opened the scorebooks for Kapa‘a, got aboard followed by Kimo Kupihea advancing Abe on a single before Kahele Pa drove both runners across the plate on his two-RBI shot. Iden Kaui hit into a two-RBI ground rule double to end the fireworks after Kaua‘i could not answer in the home half.
Bob Manintin picked up the Kapa‘a win on the hill in eight frames, allowing two runs — one earned — on four hits while walking four and whiffing three Raider batters.
Kapono Sullivan of Kaua‘i had a two-hitter going through 7 1/3 innings of work before being relieved by Kaden Itamura, who suffered the loss in 2/3 inning after giving up four runs — 2 earned — on three hits with a pair of errors. He walked one and whiffed no one.
Sullivan marked two errors toward his allowing two hits and a pair of earned runs, while walking one and striking out 17 Kapa‘a batters.
Kaua‘i, the KIF Round 1 title holder, came back in the nightcap to win 9-4 to force the Tuesday playoff.
