HILO — Momentum is important, and the Waiakea High School baseball team proved that in Game Three of the BIIF Division I Championship series Wednesday night— defeating Hilo High School 4-3.
In the second week of the season, the defending state champions fell 3-2 to the Vikings — prompting some fans to speculate whether the Warriors would get dethroned this season.
“We had a rough start to the season,” WHS head coach Chris Honda said, “but I told the boys ‘we can’t always control what happens in the beginning, but we can control what happens from here until the end.’”
Waiakea entered the postseason in the No.2 seed with an 8-2 record — also suffering a loss mid-season to Honoka‘a High School — while Hilo went undefeated for the regular season and nabbed the No.1 berth.
In Game One of the championship series, the Vikings beat Waiakea 3-2 again — but in the bottom seventh inning, the Warriors sparked momentum that would carry them to their second straight BIIF title. Down 3-0 and trying to recover from making a collection of painful errors earlier in the game, Waiakea scored two runs in that bottom seventh — and its players’ moods visibly changed, regardless of the loss.
That same energy could be seen in Game Two, when the Warriors fielded an airtight defense and scored a late run again to take the win, 1-0, and tie the series.
Waiakea’s momentum reached critical mass in Game Three, where Hilo was held to just two hits for the first five innings and no runs until the fourth — while the Warriors plated four runs on six hits by the end of the fourth inning, making minimal errors on defense.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better series,” Honda said. “In every game, it could have gone either way. Hilo kept us on our toes from start to finish.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Game Three began slowly, with no runs scored on either side until the top third inning. WHS’ Devin Garza led the top third with a walk — then Legend Lancaster fanned the next batter, and following batter flew out to Devin Saltiban in center field. Clemson Julian singled on a line drive to right field — then, while a pass to the infield was overthrown, Garza raced around second and third to make it home safely. Julian reached third on a passed ball, but was stranded when the next batter popped out to catcher Zion Palea.
Hilo went down in three batters in the bottom third, then the Warriors plated three runs in the top fourth to grasp a 4-0 lead. Kaleb Wada led off with a single on an infield grounder, followed by a single by Loren Iwata. Toren Segovia also worked the infield with a ground ball, and reached on a fielder’s choice as Iwata was put out short of second. Next, Garza singled on a right field line drive to bat Wada in.
A small mistake proved largely detrimental for the Vikings in the next play. Jesse Inouye hit a line drive to right field, which was errored — allowing him to reach second, and giving Segovia and Garza ample time to cross the plate. Freshman Koa Marzo was subbed in on the mound, and the following batter grounded out.
In the bottom seventh, Hilo began to find its own momentum — but it proved to be too little, too late.
Journey Leialoha led the frame with a walk, followed by another walk by Boston Kobayashi. Marzo then hit a sacrifice fly to advance both runners. Kamren Agpalza batted in Leialoha, singling on a ground ball to right field — then, after Gavin Nishida relieved Kaleb Sato from the hill, Makenna Wakakuwa also worked the right field with a line drive single to bat in Kobayashi. Saltiban walked to load the bases.
Facing a final-frame loss, Nishida fanned the next batter — then, as most of the spectators rose to their feet with excitement, the following batter flew out to Ivor Brooks in right field.
STATE PLAYOFFS
With the BIIF title, Waiakea also earned a berth in the HHSAA State playoffs — which will begin on Tuesday at Les Mukarami Stadium in Honolulu. The Warriors will likely receive a first-round bye and begin play in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Hilo’s postseason and chance at going to the state championship is not over. At 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Vikings will return to Wong Stadium to host the No.6 finisher from the O‘ahu Interscholastic League playoffs.
“We want to see Hilo represent the BIIF at state,” Honda said, “so, we’ll be out there on Saturday supporting them.”
Depending on the state tournament seedings, Hilo and Waiakea could potentially face off again again at some point.
