LIHU’E — Lihu’e and Kalaheo registered opening day wins in the Kaua’i Americans of Japanese Ancestry Baseball League last Sunday at Vidinha Stadium. Kapa’a, a new team playing in its first game, dropped a 9-3 decision to Lihu’e in the
LIHU’E — Lihu’e and Kalaheo registered opening day wins in the Kaua’i
Americans of Japanese Ancestry Baseball League last Sunday at Vidinha
Stadium.
Kapa’a, a new team playing in its first game, dropped a 9-3
decision to Lihu’e in the first game.
Defending champion Kalaheo came from
behind to beat Hanapepe 12-7 in the second game.
Lihu’e 9, Kapa’a
3
Lead-off batter Mikey Cardinez singled and later scored on a wild pitch
to give Lihu’e a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Barry Kawamura ripped an RBI
double and Darryl Matsumura came through with a two-run single to give Lihu’e a
4-0 lead in the fourth.
Kapa’a scored its first run in the bottom of the
third on Lee Gusman’s RBI hit.
Lihu’e’s lead ballooned to 7-1 in the sixth.
Cardinez’s run-scoring single and Kent Tada’s RBI ground out keyed the
three-run rally.
After Darryl Matsumura made it 8-1 in the eighth, Kapa’a
responded with two runs on RBI hits by Allen Mundon and Gusman to cut the gap
to 8-3 in the bottom of the eighth.
Curtis Sadamitsu roped a triple and
scored Lihu’e’s final run in the ninth on Blaine Tskayama’s
basehit.
Kawamura was the winning pitcher with relief help from
Cardinez.
Evan Gibson, who was relieved by Owen Koishigawa took the loss on
the Kapa’a hill.
Kalaheo 12, Hanapepe 7
Hanapepe rolled to a 5-0 first
inning lead on Kelly Robinson’s two-run single and RBI hits by Scott Yamase and
Clifford Matsusaka.
Kalaheo battled back to make it 5-2 in the third as
Troy Kaneshiro and Kainoa Santos plugged away for RBI hits.
Vince Nitta’s
RBI single put Hanapepe ahead 6-2 in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom
of the fourth, Kalaheo closed to a two-run deficit — 6-4 — as Kanea
Kinimaka-Aranio sacrificed home a run and Liko Perreira doubled before scoring
on Jason Koga’s basehit.
Both teams scored a run in the fifth to make it
7-5. Wendall Nonaka doubled for Hanapepe and came around to score on Dean
Nonaka’s grounder. Kalaheo answered with Kinimaka-Aranio’s sacrifice fly.
A
two-run basehit by Kalani Salazar and an RBI hit by Koga allowed Kalaheo to
take its first lead of the game, 8-7, in the sixth.
In the seventh,
Kalaheo’s Koga, Santos, Kinimaka-Aranio and Les Obatake crossed the plate for
the final 12-7 tally.
Perreira, in relief of Galen Itamura, was the winning
pitcher. Wendall Nonaka, who gave way to reliever Buddy Taniguchi, took the
loss.
Next Games
This Sunday at Vidinha Stadium, Makaweli plays its
first game of the season against Hanapepe at 10 a.m., while Kapa’a goes up
against Kalaheo at 1 p.m.
