Maybe Reece Alnas should make a tradition of proposing every day to his soon-to-be new bride, Tamy Leipelt.
Alnas batted 2-for-4 with an RBI, and the Hawaii Stars brought the lumber, pounded enough basehits and outlasted the Sonoma County Grapes 10-7 in a North American Baseball League on Friday night at Wong Stadium.
After Thursday’s 3-2 loss, Alnas took Leipelt to the diamond and popped the question. She said, “Yes,” and on Friday the 2007 Kamehameha-Hawaii graduate belted two hits, raising his batting average to .220.
The couple met at Oklahoma Baptist, and Leipelt, who’s from Brazil, supported and watched Alnas’ ballgames, enduring weather often the opposite of the sunny and warm conditions in Brazil and Hilo.
“She would be one of the five fans to watch my games at Oklahoma Baptist,” Alnas said. “It was too cold outside.
“It feels really good. I saw it coming, and she saw it coming. We’ve been together three years, and it was only a matter of time. It feels really good, and I’m happy.”
“We’re getting married Saturday,” said Alnas, who has put a wedding reception on hold because the Stars (7-3) conclude the six-game series with the Grapes (4-6) with a doubleheader at 1:35 p.m. today.
Ronnie Loeffler (2-0), a former UH-Hilo player, is scheduled to start one of the two games. In his two starts, he lost no-hitters with one out in the sixth inning.
Matt Hibbert, who went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, continues to swing a hot bat for the Stars, who compiled 12 hits. He pushed his batting average to .486. Branden Davis batted 2-for-3 and bumped his average to .344.
Ryan Screnar went six innings for the win. He allowed six runs (two unearned) on six hits and three walks, and he struck out three. Michael Kenui yielded an unearned run in two innings, and Cortney Arruda pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Matt Gibbs allowed seven runs in four innings to take the loss. Michael Johnson gave up three runs (one unearned) in the other four innings.
Brandon Gregorich was 2-for-4, Joe Lewis batted 2-for-3, and DJ Dixon and Sam Perry had two RBIs each to lead Sonoma County, which scored four runs in the fourth, highlighted by Dixon’s two-run homer.
