Kamehameha’s baseball team has won each and every way since establishing its BIIF Division II dynasty in 2012, and Thursday it was opportunistic.
Locked in a tie game in the top of the seventh at Honokaa, the Warriors put the leadoff man on with a walk, the next batter put the bat on the ball and three errors later they were on their way to a 4-2 victory.
Dragons coach Devin Joaquin said a routine groundball that his team would have turned into a 6-4-3 double play “nine times out of 10” instead turned into a comedy of throwing errors in rapid succession.
“It wasn’t a Little League play,” he said. “It was more like a circus.”
Kaohu Kawelu homered for Kamehameha (2-0), which got stout efforts from two relief pitchers in holding the Dragons (4-1) to just one hit. Jonah Reich got the win with three innings of shutout relief, striking out five and yielding one walk after Noah Palea struck out five in his three shutout innings, walking two.
“Noah is going to be something special,” Joaquin said.
Kawelu, who had two hits and scored three runs, led off the seventh with a walk. Spencer Yoshizumi, who had singles in each of his three previous at-bats, hit the ball to a ball to shortstop that got away from Honokaa.
“My boys took one play off,” Joaquin said. “One pitch.”
Kawelu’s home run in the fifth tied the game 2-2. Kamehameha collected six hits, all off starter Justin Birch, who went five innings and struck out six. Aiden Joaquin struck out five in two innings, yielding two walks and the two unearned runs.
While the Warriors have three regular season games remaining, Honokaa’s regular season is done ahead of BIIF D-II semifinals on April 20.
“I’m sure we’ll see Kamehameha again,” Joaquin said. ‘They played well and executed their plan, but we were right where we needed to be.”
In another BIIF game Thursday, Konawaena beat Hawaii Prep 10-0 in five innings.
