KAILUA-KONA – Waiakea rolled into the playoffs on a winning streak and that streak stretched to nine games on Friday with a 12-5 victory over Keaau in the opening game of the BIIF Division I championship series at Old Kona Airport Park.
KAILUA-KONA – Waiakea rolled into the playoffs on a winning streak and that streak stretched to nine games on Friday with a 12-5 victory over Keaau in the opening game of the BIIF Division I championship series at Old Kona Airport Park.
The Warriors, who are looking for their first championship since 2011, started slowly, falling behind 4-2, but rallied to score 10 runs over their final three at-bats to claim the victory.
“We have hit a lot better than we did today, but it worked out OK and we took advantage of their errors, That is what usually happens to us,” said Waiakea coach Bo Saiki. “We put the faith in the girls, and told them to play hard and never give up.”
The Warriors will look to close the door on Saturday. Game two is slated for a noon start.
The starting pitchers for Waiakea and Keaau started well with quick outings in the first inning, but the Cougars’ offense struck for four runs in the top of the second.
Macey Mokuhalii opened the top of the first with doubled down the right field line. A pair of walks to Marissa Calhoun and Kanoe Maka loaded the bases. Rylann Hacoba hit a bloop single into shallow center, scoring Mokuhalii. Lohi Kamakea-Wong then hit a shot down the right field line for a two-RBI single. She broke for second, stealing the bag and allowing Hacoba to score from third on the throw.
Waiakea cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the second. Taylor Ogawa led off with a walk and Skylar Thomas reached on a throwing error to second by the Keaau third baseman. The throw sailed into the outfield, putting runners on second and third. Alyssa Hara beat out an infield single to second, scoring Ogawa. Brandee Chinen followed with a blooper to left and Thomas crossed the plate.
The Cougars’ pitcher, Kamakea-Wong, finally got out of the jam when she fielded a grounder by Ciera Kellett-Tavares to start a first-to-home double play.
Kamakea-Wong and Hara, the Warriors’ pitcher, both worked 1-2-3 innings in the third.
Hara worked another quick inning in the fourth, but the same would not be so for Kamakea-Wong. Ogawa opened the bottom of the inning with a single to left. The ball took a high bounce over the shortstop’s head. Thomas reached on an error and Hara beat out a bunt to load the bases with no outs.
Chinen walked to score Ogawa. After the first out of the inning, Kellett-Tavares reached on an error by the second baseman and two runs came across the plate as the ball rolled into right field. A single to right by Taylor Nishimura and a bloop single to left-center by Kristi Hirata scored the final two runs of the inning, putting Waiakea up 8-4.
Hara continued to roll in the top of the fifth. She allowed a single up the middle to Kamakea-Wong with one out, but forced a pop-up and groundout to short to end the inning.
The Warriors added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up by six. Hara reached on a bunt single and was replaced by Elizabeth Sakamoto, the courtesy runner. Chinen singled to left and Jasmine Castro bunted both runners up a base. Kellett-Tavares followed with a bullet over the head of the left fielder, scoring both runners.
The bats continued to produce into the sixth as the Warriors increased their lead to eight. The damage could have been more severe if not for a heads up play by the Keaau second baseman Tiana Kapumau, who fielded a grounder and threw a runner out at the plate. Waiakea led 12-4.
Keaau scored a run in the top of the seventh off Hara, but she would get out of a second and third jam without another runner crossing the plate to pick up the seven-inning win. Kamakea-Wong also threw the complete game but took the loss.
Keaau 040 000 1 – 5 7 3
Waiakea 020 622 x – 12 9 1