PUHI — The Kauai Senior Softball League was swinging in the sunshine this past weekend with a full slate of games at the Rebels’ Puhi Park and the Eleele Senior Softball Stadium.
The Ohana Motors Rebels got up early and prepared the beautiful and expansive Puhi diamond for the triple-header. First up was Da Kruzers making their way into town to face off with the Rebels. Da Kruzers managed a full team to take on Ohana Motors in their home park. Gary Yates took the mound for his team and pitched a gem, allowing three hits and surrendering a solo run in a five-inning contest. The Rebels ran away with a 15-1 decision over Barry Toy’s Kruzers.
The Rookies came into Puhi with their reinvigorated hitting attack up against Pete Rayno’s Hanamaulu Hillsiders. Alan Horikawa has his Rookies back on the fast track to success and brought out the heavy lumber. Nelson Chiba showed his clout with tremendous bombs into the deep outfield. The Rookies took care of business and clobbered the Hillsiders, 17-7, in a full game.
The day on the green wrapped up with the red-hot Aloha Kia Lihue A’s dueling with Ernie Koerte’s Kawaihau club. Dwight Fujii’s A’s have been blistering their opponents over the recent weeks and continued with their unstoppable hitting. The two teams went the distance with Lihue pulling off an impressive 14-5 victory to stay in the hunt for the league championship.
In Eleele, Ohana hosted the set of three games at their home field and took on the Keonimana Gents in the early contest. The Gents remain on a winning streak and gave Frank Bukoski’s bunch a hard time, handing them an 18-10 loss.
Neil Zaslow has really turned his team around and was ready for the showdown between West Kauai and their cross-town competition in the Barteks. Pat Baniaga and Barteks have been on a roller coaster ride this season. This game proved to be more of the same as they both hit the scoreboard with timely hitting and scoring. West Kauai came with too many bats and blasted their way to an impressive 17-6 win. West Kauai continues to climb in the league standings and have fought their way up the ladder.
The sun shone down on the final game of the morning with Kuku’s Aces meeting with the East Kauai Legends. Norman Holt and his Legends put on a good show each weekend and made sure this trip to the Westside was not wasted. East Kauai put a punctuation mark on their Legend status and hammered out a 20-6 win over Kuku DeCosta’s Aces.
The league moves on to the Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex and a rare visit to the Hanapepe Stadium. The East Kauai Legends are on tap to host the four games in Kapaa with a first game encounter with the Aloha Kia Lihue A’s followed by the Islanders and Kawaihau tangling in the mid-morning game. The East side contests will conclude the regular schedule with Ohana moving in to take on the Hanamaulu Hillsiders. A fourth game has been added to the slate with a make-up game between Kawaihau and the East Kauai Legends.
Barteks is prepping the renovated Hanapepe ballpark for their match-up with the Ohana Motors Rebels. The Keonimana Gents take the field next in their game with Kuku’s Aces. This will be the third meeting of these two teams in two weeks. The day wraps up Da Kruzers motoring to the Westside for a date with the Rookies.
All games start at 9 a.m., 10:15 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. The rain out make up will follow shortly after the 11:30 a.m. game.
