By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Konawaena junior Ryan Torres-Torioka and his counterpart, Hawaii Prep senior Jayse Bannister, both pitched good enough to win in a tense duel that magnified mistakes.
Torres-Torioka made none, at least nothing that hurt, and fired a two-hitter to lift the Wildcats over the Ka Makani 1-0 in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II baseball semifinals on Friday at Wong Stadium.
The Wildcats (12-1) clinched their fifth straight berth to the Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournament, and positioned themselves to win a second consecutive BIIF championship.
The Ka Makani (8-6) watched their streak of four straight state trips end at the hands of Torres-Torioka, who beat them with a four-hitter in a 4-2 win earlier in the season.
The Kona right-hander walked three and struck out just two, but was helped by two double plays, catcher Evyn Yamaguchi throwing out a runner and a sure-handed defense that committed no errors.
He stranded only two runners, both in the seventh, and pitched to contact, getting 15 groundouts. Only two balls were outfield putouts. Otherwise, Torres-Torioka was enjoying a relatively stress-free sunny day at the ballpark until the seventh.
“I knew I needed to hit my spots against them,” he said. “I made them hit grounders and I knew my defense would get outs. My curveball was working and getting me out of deep counts.
“In the seventh, I was overthrowing. I needed to buckle down. I focused, concentrated on the last batter (Mike Nakahara) and got the out. It felt great, awesome.”
HPA leadoff hitter Koa Ellis walked on four pitches. Zane Gray bunted a ball back to Torres-Torioka, who got Ellis at second. Holden Pattengill attempted a bunt with one strike, and eventually struck out. Then Jayse Bannister walked.
Nakahara, the cleanup hitter, was next and saw a steady diet of curveballs and Torres-Torioka got ahead 2-2. He threw another big-bending curveball on the outside corner that Nakahara slapped to shortstop Jarret Kitaoka, who threw to third to get Gray and end the game.
“Ryan is pretty much clutch up all the time,” Kona coach Lloyd Fujino said. “He was pretty consistent. He’s got heat on the ball and he hits his spots.
“We always have close games against HPA. They’ve got good players, and it’s pretty much good games all around against them.”
Bannister went six innings and took a tough loss. The left-hander allowed a run on three hits and no walks, and struck out two. He was particularly efficient, throwing just 61 pitches; Torres-Torioka threw 91 pitches.
Kona’s only run came in the fourth when one episode of wildness cost Bannister, who hit leadoff hitter Domonic Morris. He was sacrificed to second and scored on Makana Canda’s RBI single. Torres-Torioka singled, then Kitaoka hit a sinking liner to left.
Nakahara made a diving catch for the second out. If he had missed the ball, both runs would have likely scored with Kitaoka standing at either second or third. Then Yamaguchi flied out to end the inning.
On bunt execution, Kona was 1 for 1 and scored a run. HPA was 0 for 3 and came up empty. Besides the two failed bunts in the seventh, in the sixth the Ka Makani got a leadoff runner on, tried to bunt, couldn’t, and later hit into a double play.
Vinny Chang went 2 for 2 for Kona, but Canda’s run-scoring single in the fourth was all Torres-Torioka needed.
HPA’s ace put the pitching duel into a neatly packaged nutshell.
“We couldn’t hit Ryan. He had us off-balanced and we couldn’t score,” Bannister said. “We hit into two double plays. That was a big part of the game right there. I felt like I did a pretty good job, good enough to win.”
HPA 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
Kona 00 100 x — 1 3 0