By KEVIN JAKAHI
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
HONOLULU — A year later, redemption for Waiakea ace pitcher Quintin Torres-Costa came in the form of a sizzling fastball, a six-hit shutout with eight strikeouts, and a big step toward his team making school history.
The 6-foot senior left-hander was an efficient strike machine, throwing 75 strikes out of his 105 pitches and sparking the Warriors over Castle 5-0 in the quarterfinals of the Division I state baseball tournament on Wednesday at Les Murakami stadium.
The Warriors (18-0), the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion and No. 3 seed, will play Pearl City (11-6), the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s No. 3 team, in the semifinals at 4 p.m. today in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinals.
Last year, the Chargers beat Waiakea 5-2 and eventually won the state title. Torres-Costa scattered seven hits and took a complete-game loss.
In another quarterfinal at the Hawaii High School Athletic Association tournament, the Chargers defeated Interscholastic League of Honolulu champion and No. 2 seed Mid-Pacific 3-1.
Pearl City’s top two pitchers went more than five innings in the last two days. Kawika Pruett pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief on a combined two-hitter against Mid-Pac. Kamalu Neal tossed 5 1/3 innings in 5-1 first-round win over Maui High on Tuesday.
Besides Torres-Costa throwing 71 percent of his pitches for strikes, he also fired first-pitch strikes to 18 of the 27 batters he faced. Of his six hits allowed, he surrendered one double and five softly well-placed singles. He walked one, hit a batter and stranded five on base.
“My stuff was all right. I trusted (catcher) Kean Wong’s pitch calling and I trusted my team that we would score runs, and I had a good defense to help me,” Torres-Costa said. “It was a team effort. All of my pitches were working: fastball, cutter, curveball, palmball and changeup. My palmball is straight up and down, and my curveball dives away from right-handers.
“It feels great to win. I did a lot better than last year. I told everybody, ‘Let’s get here and get redemption.’ This win really helps our confidence. We played our game.”
Torres-Costa opened with a flash of dominance, striking out the first two hitters on six pitches, Zephan Mukai swinging and pitcher Eric Akamine looking. Then the Knights (11-7), the OIA’s No. 5 team, staged a brief rally before a base-running miscue collapsed that threat.
Micah Camara hit a single to right field, and cleanup hitter Christian Kapehela was beaned. Then on the second pitch to Froy Smith Jr., Kapehela wandered too far off first base and Wong rifled a bullet to Kylen Uyeda. Camara, the lead runner, was eventually tagged out in a rundown.
Torres-Costa stranded two runners in the fourth and fifth innings, getting a strikeout each time. He whiffed Manoah Medrano in the fourth with runners on the corners with a fastball, and Akamine the next inning with runners in scoring position with a palmball on a 1-2 count.
Meanwhile, Akamine, a 5-7 senior right-hander, was baffling the Warriors through five innings and trailed 1-0, after Korin Medeiros crushed an RBI double to score Wong, who reached on an infield single in the third inning. Akamine was also helped by center fielder Billy Kerkau, who made three stellar catches, including two sliding on his knees.
“We started off kind of slow. We were overanxious because he throws slow,” Medeiros said. “But that didn’t matter. The main thing is we finished strong. We put it away in the last inning.
“He elevated an inside fastball and that’s my pitch. I capitalized on it and executed. This game was good for us. It gives us good energy to continue for the next game and stay strong for the whole game from beginning until the end.”
Waiakea coach Kevin Yee wasn’t worried at all about his bats taking an extended nap.
“A lot of pitches we just missed hitting,” he said. “It was only a matter of time before we got our timing down and made adjustments. We were telling our guys to stay with it and use the whole field.”
In the sixth, Davy Camacho’s two-strike hitting ability plated Waiakea another run. Medeiros led off with a single, and one batter later Camacho got stuck in a 1-2 hole, fouled a pitch off, then singled to right field for a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the seventh, the bottom of the lineup (the Nos. 6 to 9 hitters, who went 1 for 9) contributed to a three-run rally, which was highlighted by a costly outfield error that led to two unearned runs.
Uyeda, the No. 8 hitter, singled. After pinch runner Matt Camacho advanced to second with two outs, Wong was intentionally walked. Medeiros, who was 2 for 3 at the time, seized the moment and on a 2-2 count cracked an RBI single to right field, which danced away from Camara and rolled to the wall.
Wong showed off his wheels and raced from first to home. Then Kodi Medeiros, today’s starting pitcher and a sophomore center fielder, brought his brother home with a run-scoring single to center for a 5-0 cushion. The two UH verbal commits looked comfortable at their future home; Torres-Costa already signed with the Rainbows.
Waiakea, which didn’t have any steal attempts, needed the timely hits because it was next to impossible to run on Akamine, who displayed quick feet and a lightning move to first on pickoff attempts. From the stretch, his pitches to the plate, with a slide-step, clocked in the 1.03-second range. Anything under 1.3 seconds is considered ideal.
Akamine was also efficient as the No. 2 pitcher. He threw 94 pitches and allowed five runs (two unearned) on nine hits and one walk, and struck out one. Castle ace Dustin Nakayama fired a two-hitter in a 4-2 win over Moanalua in the first round on Tuesday.
The Warriors didn’t need to steal bases to get runners in scoring position. They got enough timely hits, the defense was flawless and Torres-Costa rounded out the winning pie formula with his pitching.
Korin Medeiros batted 3 for 4 with two RBIs and Davy Camacho was 2 for 4 with two RBIs to lead the Warriors, whose best finish at states was runner-up in 1996, losing to Iolani 4-1 in the championship.
“We had a slow start, but we got the hits when it counted,” Camacho said. “When it mattered we got the runs we needed and played tough defense. Quintin is always on and we can rely on him. Kean calls good pitches and I can see that at shortstop. He kept them off-balanced and when he throws that hard he’s tough to hit.”
Waiakea 001 001 3 — 5 9 0
Castle 000 000 0 — 0 6 2
Division II
• Kamehameha 8, Kalaheo 3: Kaimana Moike had a perfect game through three innings, and finished with a six-hitter. The senior right-hander allowed six hits and one walk, and struck out 13.
“He pitched terrific. He was in command and gave up only one hit through five innings,” Kamehameha coach Andy Correa said. “We had a 7-0 lead until we ran into a little trouble giving up hits and a few errors. But Mana got out of it with strikeouts.”
Kamehameha (13-5) will play Kauai Interscholastic Federation champion and top seed Waimea (9-5) in the semifinals at 10 a.m. today at Murakami Stadium.
Bronson Pulgados was 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Chay Toson scored three runs and Keanu Dudoit-Isa scored two runs to lead the Warriors, the BIIF champion and No. 4 seed, who had just six hits but were helped by nine walks and three hit batters. Toson and Nainoa Hart each walked three times.
Chris Palmer took the loss for the Mustangs (9-4), the OIA runner-up. He also had two RBIs and Matthew Anderson-Lee was 2 for 4.
Kalaheo 000 002 1 — 3 6 1
Kamehameha 331 100 x — 8 6 2