By KEVIN JAKAHI By KEVIN JAKAHI ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald sports writer Waiakea ace Quintin Torres-Costa has a pretty good grasp of his pitching arsenal, knowing when his mechanics are in working order. He was nearly flawless and fired a one-hitter to
By KEVIN JAKAHI
Tribune-Herald sports writer
Waiakea ace Quintin Torres-Costa has a pretty good grasp of his pitching arsenal, knowing when his mechanics are in working order.
He was nearly flawless and fired a one-hitter to lift the Warriors over Hilo 6-0 in Big Island Interscholastic Federation baseball game Thursday night at Wong Stadium.
The senior left-hander flirted with his first seven inning no-hitter, allowing a seeing-eye single to Keenan Nishioka, who sneaked a grounder past the shortstop hole, in the second inning.
Torres-Costa walked just one, hit two batters and struck out eight. The Warriors made two inconsequential errors and he stranded six runners.
In his last start, he threw a five-inning 10-0 no-hitter against Keaau. He struck out 10 and walked one, missing out on a perfect game.
The rubber match between the two was meaningless in the standings. Waiakea (15-0) has already locked down the East No. 1 seed, and Hilo (11-4) the East No. 2 seed for the four-team BIIF Division I tournament, which starts next Friday at Wong Stadium.
Waiakea will play East No. 3 Keaau (5-9), and Hilo will face West No. 1 seed Kealakehe (4-7) in the semifinals. The BIIF champion will earn the league’s lone berth to the Division I state tournament. The BIIF runner-up will have a state play-in game.
The Warriors gave Torres-Costa enough support in two innings. Torres-Costa had a sacrifice fly and Kean Wong roped an RBI triple in the second. In the fifth, Kodi Medeiros had an RBI single, Aaron Nishimura walked with the bases loaded and two runs scored on an error.
Medeiros batted 3 for 4 with an RBI and Davy Camacho 2 for 3 to lead Waiakea, the defending BIIF champion.
Kian Kurokawa allowed two runs in two innings and took the loss. Jordan Tagawa tossed two scoreless innings. Then Nick Fukunaga, Conrad Kauffman and Kody Kaniho each pitched an inning.
From the second inning, Torres-Costa retired 10 in a row, striking out five during a short stretch of dominance. In the fifth, he created an inconvenience for himself when he hit two batters. But escaped the threat with a groundout.
He was able to self-correct himself when he began elevating pitches. Overall, Torres-Costa got two outfield putouts and 10 groundouts, which meant Hilo had a hard time squaring up on his pitches.
“I felt comfortable but in the middle part I lost a little of my touch,” Torres-Costa said. “But I fixed it. I had to be more in front and more smooth.
“I really didn’t think I had no-hit stuff. I knew Hilo would be short to the ball and hit. I tried to force contact. I trust my defense and let them work. I liked that it was a team effort and everybody did a good job.”
One interesting matchup was in the sixth against Hilo catcher Koa Matson, Torres-Costa’s teammate on the Hilo Senior League World Series champion ballclub. Matson caught Torres-Costa last summer and no other Viking hitter knows him quite so well.
When Matson stepped to the plate in the sixth with two out, he was 0 for 2, striking out swinging and looking. Then Torres-Costa got ahead 1-2 and busted Matson with a cutter on his hands.
The senior catcher whipped the barrel of the bat through the hitting zone in an eye blink, but got under the ball, just missing by less than inch of testing the limits of the left-field fence. Instead Matson hit a towering flyball that was dropped.
His hustle helped him reach second. Torres-Costa pitched out of that trouble and did the same in the seventh after another two-base error, running Waiakea’s record over Hilo to 3-0.
If the two teams meet again, it will be for the BIIF championship. And Torres-Costa, who struck out 11 in the first meeting of a 5-3 victory, is perfect in two starts against the Vikings.
Waiakea 020 040 0 — 6 10 2
Hilo 000 000 0 — 0 1 2
