Since being swept by Hilo in the BIIF semifinals, Waiakea had exactly 18 days to get ready for the HHSAA baseball tournament. ADVERTISING Since being swept by Hilo in the BIIF semifinals, Waiakea had exactly 18 days to get ready
Since being swept by Hilo in the BIIF semifinals, Waiakea had exactly 18 days to get ready for the HHSAA baseball tournament.
Before heading to Oahu, the Warriors scrimmaged against themselves and they scrimmaged against Kamehameha-Hawaii.
Somewhere along the way, one Waiakea player got his swing back. Ryder Oshiro’s double in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday brought in the winning run, giving the Warriors a 4-3 victory against Kailua at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu.
“Ryder hit well in the beginning of the year, and we knew he had big hits in him,” coach Rory Inouye said. “We don’t think he’s done.”
Waiakea (9-3) advanced to face second-seeded Mid Pacific (12-3) of the ILH at 7 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.
Calvin Uemura started Waiakea’s two-out rally in the seventh with a hit off Isaiah Kaeo-Cash, who was trying to complete his fifth inning of relief.
Uemura also delivered one of the biggest pitches of the game, inducing a double-play ground ball to second with two on and no outs in the sixth after he came on to relieve Makoa Andres with the score tied. Uemura finished with two hitless inning to get the win, walking one and striking out one.
“Especially after getting swept by Hilo, the confidence was a little down,” Inouye said. “But the good thing is everybody got to rest.
“One of the things we’ve been telling the boys all season was to not give up and fight to the end.”
Courtesy of seven Andres’ walks, the Surfriders (12-4) had base runners in every inning, but they stranded nine of them.
Waiakea second baseman Trevor Shimokusu and shortstop Taylor Mondina also turned a double play in the third inning.
Waiakea scored twice in the third to take a 3-2 lead. Mondina led off with a triple and scored on Caleb Freitas-Fields’ double. Four batters later, Anthony Benevides hit a sacrifice fly.
Kalei Kealoha-Machado was 2 for 3 for Kailua with a run-scoring single in the second. The Surfriders tied the game in the fifth on a passed ball by Andres, who threw 110 pitches in five innings. The right-hander struck out seven and allowed five hits and three runs, two earned, and he was 2 for 3 at the plate.
Inouye said it was not his intention to save Freitas-Fields, the team’s ace during the regular season, for the quarterfinals.
“Makoa has been throwing the ball really well in practice, so we gave him the start,” he said. “It just so happens that we’ll have Caleb for Mid-Pacific.”
Kailua 020 010 0 – 3 5 0
Waiakea 012 000 1 – 4 6 1
