Next man up. Playing as a team. Always be prepared. ADVERTISING Next man up. Playing as a team. Always be prepared. Coaches love to preach, but Waiakea’s Rory Inouye doesn’t necessarily have to use cliches to motivate anymore. Henceforth, he
Next man up. Playing as a team. Always be prepared.
Coaches love to preach, but Waiakea’s Rory Inouye doesn’t necessarily have to use cliches to motivate anymore. Henceforth, he can just pop in a recording of the Warriors’ 4-3 victory against Moanalua on Wednesday in Honolulu.
With all hands on deck at the HHSAA baseball tournament, Waiakea was nothing if not resourceful, using an unconventional one-hitter and a sixth-inning rally to reach the Division I quarterfinals, where the Warriors will play second-seeded Kailua back at Les Murakami Stadium at 1 p.m. Thursday with ace Makoa Andres on the mound.
“This team really comes together as one and they don’t panic,” Inouye said. “I mean, all year long we’ve been telling the guys, you never know when your name is going to be called.”
A number of players for BIIF runner-up Waiakea (15-2) obviously heard their coach.
Sophomore Cody Hirata, seldom used on the mound since a win against Kohala on March 18, delivered three hitless innings in relief of David Nakamura, who battled control issues.
Sophomore Devin Midel played his customary second base and got a rare start in the lineup, delivering a hit and scoring a run, and he got the win on the mound with an inning pitched.
“Cody was throwing really well in practice,” Inouye said, “and Devin has gotten more comfortable the whole season.”
Senior Anthony Benevides lost playing time at first base this season as sophomore Khaden Victorino came into his own, but Benevides came up with a pinch-hit RBI double to tie the game in the bottom of the fifth.
Just prior to that, Micah Chinen came off the bench and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, moving Victorino, who had walked, to second. Midel re-entered the game for Benevides and scampered home on Casey Yamauchi’s single to put Waiakea up 2-1.
Na Menehune (10-7), the OIA’s No. 5 seed, reclaimed the lead in the sixth on Bryson Sato’s two-run single, breaking up a no-hitter, off Midel.
On this day, it just made sense that the bottom of the order played a big hand in producing the go-ahead rally for Waiakea. Jacob Igawa led off with a single to left, a bunt moved a runner over, Gehrig Octavio walked, and a hit to left by Victorino, the No. 7 hitter, tied the game. Octavio scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Curren Inouye, the No. 8 hitter.
“That’s the one good thing about the lineup,” Rory Inouye said. “Everybody can come up with a big hit.”
After Midel walked the leadoff batter in the seventh, Yamauchi came on and got a runner out on a sacrifice fly and induced a double-play ground ball to end the game.
Nakamura walked five and hit a batter in two innings of work. Unofficially, the junior left-hander threw 50 pitches and will eligible to pitch again Friday.
Andres, the reigning BIIF Division I Player of the Year, faces the the OIA champion Surfriders (13-2) as the Warriors try to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2012, their championships season. Behind Andres’ five innings, Waiakea beat Kailua in a first-round game in 2015, which was also the last time the Warriors came to states after getting swept by Hilo in the BIIF championship series like they did this year.
The fourth-seeded Vikings (14-2) will play Campbell at 10 a.m. Thursday in the first quarterfinal of the day at Les Murakami Stadium. The OIA runner-up Sabers (15-1) beat league rival Kaiser 6-4.
“Of course, the team was heart-broken when they lost (to Hilo),” Inouye said. “But they picked themselves up and realized they still had a chance to be a state champion.”
Moanalua 100 002 0 – 3 1 0
Waiakea 000 022 x – 4 6 0
