KEALAKEKUA – A young but experienced Konawaena baseball team kept Honokaa off-balance Wednesday in a 6-0 victory at Ellison Onizuka Field.
The game was not a cakewalk for the Wildcats despite the score as they stepped into the box against Honokaa pitcher Caden Perreira, who struck out 15 Hawaii Preparatory Academy batters in his previous start. Against the flame thrower, Konawaena worked deep into counts and put the ball into play, forcing the Dragons’ defense to back up their ace. However, Honokaa struggled defensively, committing three costly errors.
The Wildcats did not hit the ball hard often, managing only five hits from five different batters, but they struck out only once against the Honokaa starter.
The Konawaena offense also scored three runs on wild pitches as Perreira struggled with his control. He exited the game after four innings, having thrown 88 pitches. Perreira allowed six runs, three of which were earned.
“We wanted to get their starter to throw a lot of pitches and perhaps frustrate him a little bit by letting him know we would not be easy outs,” said Konawaena coach Adam Taberios. “We wanted to keep him out of tempo and off-balance, while staying in our rhythm.”
Wildcats pitcher Tristan DeAguiar peppered in his fastball with a solid curveball, which had the Honokaa batters leaning all game long in a complete game.
“I want to stay out there as long as I can,” DeAguiar said. “I just want to keep pitching and let my defense work every game.”
He allowed four hits, struck out four and walked three.
“Tristan has made a drastic improvement over last year,” Taberios said. “He has better command this year and he has a little pep in his fastball. I don’t know what he did in the offseason, but his confidence is greater.”
DeAguiar was backed by catcher Tyler Kitaoka, a senior, Taberios said, who is the type of captain who leads by example, adding that younger teammates seem to gravitate to him and follow him.
DeAguiar kept the ball on the ground through the first five innings, allowing plenty of opportunity for senior third baseman and co-captain Logan Canda to shine.
Canda, making a last minute return to the field after suffering a knee injury in the preseason, was a wall at third base, making tough plays on four slow-rolling grounders.
“We are glad to have him back and he plays a big role with this team,” Taberios said. “I am glad his glove and arm was still there. He looked phenomenal.”
In the sixth inning, center fielder Vohn Yamaguchi made two tough plays on deep fly balls near the warning track.
Konawaena pushed four runs across in the bottom of the first inning.
Leadoff hitter Phillip Grace reached on an error, Logan Canda walked, and with one out Stevie Texeira singled to left, allowing Grace to score and moving Canda to third. Yamaguchi followed with a single to right, scoring Canda. Texeira scored on a wild pitch, and later in the inning Kaiya Leleiwi reached on an error and Yamaguchi scored the fourth run.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Leleiwi led off with a double to center and Andrew Udac reached on an error by the pitcher. Both runners moved around the bases and scored on a pair of wild pitches by Perriera.
