HILO — Monday was the first day of the BIIF Division I and Division II baseball Championship series at Wong Stadium.
In DI action, No.1 seed Hilo High School defeated No.2 Waiakea High School 3-2 —and in DII, No.2 Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i won 2-0 over No.1 Konawaena High School.
The victors of each game secured a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
DII: KSH 2 – KoHS 0
The Day One slate began with the afternoon matchup between the Warriors and the Wildcats.
KSH went to bat first, and gained its 2-0 lead in the top first — which would remain for the rest of the game.
After the leadoff flew out, Kaohu Kawelu was first on base — reaching on a HBP. Dominic Christensen and Dylan Hanson followed up with singles to load the bases. Konawaena pitcher Kahiau Riviera fanned a batter, then Shiloh Santos singled on a grounder to left field — batting in Christensen and Hanson. Kamaka Ili singled, but he and Santos were stranded after the next batter flew out.
With one out on the board in the bottom first, Trez Uemoto walked to account for one of the Wildcats’ two base visits for the outing. The next batter hit a grounder to Hanson, who threw to third baseman Braden Gomes to tag out Uemoto — then Gomes threw to first baseman Noah Palea to put out the batter.
The next and final time Konawaena touched base was when Kolt Baptista reached on an infield error after hitting a line drive in the bottom third.
Hanson pitched the first four innings for KSH, and Palea took the mound for the final three — together, they combined for a no hitter and near-perfect game. Hanson notched four strikeouts and surrendered one walk, hammering the zone with 34 strikes out of 51 pitches. Palea struck out five and allowed none on base, throwing 27 strikes out of 39 pitches.
Santos led the Warriors at the plate — going three-for-three, hitting two singles and a double to bat in two runs.
In the field, Christensen led with nine putouts and an assist, trailed by Palea with five putouts and an assist.
Though they had a tough day in the box, the Wildcats were fairly successful in the field. Konawaena had no errors, and was led by first baseman Jaeden Meyer with eight putouts – followed by Maika Akamu with five putouts.
DI: HHS 3 – WHS 2
In the evening, the Warriors went scoreless for most of the game — but plated two runs in the top seventh to come within inches of a tie before a putout at home by catcher Zion Palea secured the win for the Vikings.
Waiakea got started with two on base in the top first when Kaleb Wada reached on an infield error and Clemson Julian singled on a line drive to right field. Hilo’s outfield strength closed the frame with no runs on the board, as Journey Leialoha caught a flyout and Devin Saltiban caught two.
The Vikings went down in three batters in the bottom first. Warriors pitcher Loren Iwata struck out the first two batters, one looking and one swinging — then, the third grounded out at first.
Hilo turned the tide in the bottom third with two runs. Zion Palea led with a single, then a string of errors and a fielder’s choice allowed him to score and Jaydon Geraci to get on base. Following two groundouts at first, Saltiban doubled to bat in Geraci. A HBP and a walk loaded the bases, but Julian recovered a ground ball at first base to make the out and end the frame.
Both teams went scoreless in the fourth inning and Waiakea had two left on base in the top fifth. After Hilo’s bottom-fifth leadoff flew out, Saltiban went to bat.
As his teammates chanted his name, he hit a solo homer over the left field fence — and the HHS crowd jumped out of their seats in an eruption of cheers. However, the Warriors kept their composure. Gavin Nishida fanned the next batter, then catcher Joshua Ward caught a popout to send the Vikings onto the field.
The top sixth saw Hilo strand runners on first and third — then in the bottom frame, a flyout, a runner tagged out short of second and a strikeout left one on base for the Vikings.
Waiakea wasted no opportunities in the top seventh, plating two runs to nearly come back. Julian led with a walk, and Jaiden-Lee Gabriel went in as his courtesy runner.
Legend Lancaster whiffed the next batter, then Ivor Brooks singled on an infield grounder. Nishida then hit a line drive to right field, and Gabriel raced around third and dove safely onto the plate — boosting Waiakea’s morale to the sky and dismaying the Vikings. Nishida ran to steal second, and an erroneous attempt to tag him out allowed Brooks to score. The atmosphere of the game become chaotic, but Lancaster kept his cool and fanned the next batter. Toren Segovia reached on an error, but the game ended as Nishida was put out at the plate during the next at-bat.
Wada led the Warriors at the plate – reaching on three of four at-bat’s on an error, a single and a walk.
Saltiban went two-for-three to lead the Vikings, hitting a double and a homer to bat in two runs.