West Side’s appearance at state the Junior Little League tournament started positively enough when Jamison Medeiros, the game’s first batter, ripped a hit to left field.
West Side’s appearance at state the Junior Little League tournament started positively enough when Jamison Medeiros, the game’s first batter, ripped a hit to left field.
A theme was set, however, when Medeiros tried to stretch his single into a double Saturday and was thrown out at second.
Not that West Side didn’t connect with its share of hard-hit balls, but miscues were more prevalent, both physical and mental, in a 13-1 loss to Makakilo-Nanakuli of Oahu at Walter Victor Complex.
“What happens when you have too many errors, it’s more pitchers for your pitcher and that hurts,” coach Jerry Hiraishi said.
The Big Island champions (ages 13-14) play an elimination game at 11:30 a.m. Sunday against either Aiea or Central Maui, while Makakilo-Nanakuli (2-0) takes on Kauai (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. for a spot in Tuesday’s final.
West Side made two of its errors on rundowns, giving Makakilo-Nanakuli – Makana for short – extra outs it didn’t need, and it was also called for fielder’s interference and had runner thrown out at home.
Starter Jason Alani tried to get into a groove in the second, but after striking out his second consecutive batter, the ball got behind the catcher allowing the hitter to reach first. Instead of a man on first with two outs in a 2-0 game, Makana had two runners on and only one out, and with the top of the order coming up, it was quickly a 6-0 game.
West Side couldn’t quite get on top of the ball against starter Bula White, who needed just 37 pitches to get through three shutout innings, striking out one.
“We hit the ball, but they made plays,” Hiraishi said “We didn’t make plays. That is bottom line.”
The first three hitters in Makana’s lineup were productive. Keaka Barrozo delivered a two-run double in the third and a two-single in the third, Kamakani Motas drove in three runs with two hits and KC Ferreira-Sparks also had two hits.
Alani and Zayden Tolentino (three strikeouts) each worked 1 2/3 innings as West Side went through five pitchers.
It scored in the fourth. Bronson Rivera led off and was hit by a pitch, scored a few batters later on Kainoa Doctor’s groundout.
“Defensively, we have to be better,” Hiraishi said. “That’s the name of the game.”