No matter the situation or circumstance, Waiakea High coach Chris Honda likes to talk in collective terms.
“A good team win.” “Everybody contributed.”
As it turns out, entering Friday’s HHSAA’s Division I baseball semifinals, Honda hadn’t seen anything yet.
He’s one victory from having the team for 2022, and it would be one long remembered in Hilo if it can pull this off.
Dylan Honda put down a squeeze bunt in the top of the seventh to score Kedren Kinzie with the go-ahead run after Devin Garza’s clutch hit an inning earlier, and Kaleb delaCuesta-Sato and Justice Dorser delivered when called upon in relief as the Warriors beat Saint Louis 5-4 to reach the championship game on Maui.
“Honestly, I think our confidence is limitless right now,” Dylan Honda said. “I think we can compete against anyone.”
Next up, Baldwin at 6 p.m. Saturday in a final that will be broadcast on SpectrumOC16. Seeking its first state title since 2012, BIIF champion Waiakea (10-0) plays in the final for the third time in the past four tournaments.
This team, of course, is an entirely new cast.
“Very proud, just the way they never give up and keep fighting and come back,” coach Chris Honda said. “We have our ups and downs, but we really stick together. Pick each other up and battle through it.”
Faced with its second deficit in as many days at Iron Maehara Stadium after Saint Louis scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to knock starter Lester Iwata out of the game, the Warriors never got down.
“If anything, the mood got stronger,” Chris Honda said. “It was great.”
There were 16 hits in the game, all singles, 11 by Waiakea. None were bigger than when the Warriors came right back in the sixth, courtesy of Garza’s two-run single. Dylan Honda led of the inning with the second of his three hits, took second on a bunt and moved to third on and Kaden Oshiro’s single. After Mason Hirata (2 for 3) walked, Garza ripped a hit through the left side.
“Our team, we knew we had the resiliency in ourselves to come back,” Dylan Honda said, “and we could put on a show.”
After Dorser stared down his first pressure-packed situation of the season to get out of the sixth, Kinzie and Josh Ward coaxed leadoff walks to open the seventh. They moved up a base on a wild pitch, and with one out father waited for his son to see a pitch before putting down the safety squeeze.
“In this game I had been hitting pretty good,” Dylan Honda said. “I knew it was either going to be a bunt or I was going to try and line a single.
“I saw the bunt signal and I knew what to do.”
He executed it perfectly. The play went for a bunt signal.
Dorser allowed a leadoff hit in the seventh with one out, but a line drive double play to Garza at second ended the game.
“No pressure, we just went out and played our game,” Iwata, who allowed just one hit through the first four innings, told a statewide television audience.
He was handed a 2-0 lead in the second. Ward drew a leadoff walk, took third on two outs and came home on Elijah Igawa’s hit. Singles by Oshiro (2 for 4) and Hirata plated another run.
Waiakea has relied primarily on two pitchers, Dylan Honda and Iwata, this season in big games.
Honda threw 104 pitches in Thursday’s win 6-3 against Kalani. Iwata got the save and then pitched shutout ball into the fifth Friday but was removed with one out as the ILH champion Crusaders rallied, striking out four and walking three.
Was Waiakea running out of pitchers?
No.
delaCuesta-Sato worked around a hit and a walk in an inning, and Dorser got the all-important last five outs, striking out two.
“Justice is a beast at pitching,” Dylan Honda said. “It sucks that he didn’t get too many innings this past season. But he can chop.”
Afterward, Chris Honda was asked who would take the mound in the final against top-seeded Baldwin, who whacked Kailua 17-5 in the second semifinal.
Waiakea was and is hungry, in more ways than one.
“Not sure,” Honda said. “We’re getting food right now. We’re going to regroup, see what we got and figure out our strategy.”
Championships are what everyone pays attention to, but for Honda –– the coach who always accentuates team values – the semifinal in many ways was his masterpiece.
Look no further than Dorser.
“The perfect example of guys just stepping up and doing a great job,” Honda said. “We had a few pitchers warming up, and all of them were ready, but we decided to go with Dorser. I like his demeanor. He gets in there, he doesn’t get rattled. That’s what I like about him. His curveball was working tonight, and he was confident.
“I think no matter who I put in there, I was confident in what they could do. But I decided to go with Dorser.”