Kapa`a Wins!

Kapa`a High wins first boys KIF baseball title in 12 years

By MANNY

HENRIQUES

Special to The Garden Island

KAPA`A— One game at a time. A

few days after winning the first round title, Head Coach Shannon Masada and

assistants Dennis Bonilla and Jay Gatiuan were contemplating what it would take

to capture this year’s championship.

The pieces of the puzzle were coming

together—the return of their pitching ace, great team chemistry, a winning

attitude.

All three coaches played a part on the last Green-and-White squad

to take the league crown, Bonilla as an assistant coach and Masada and Gatiuan

as players on current Kapa’a Athletic Director-then Head Coach Dwight Fujii’s

1988 championship squad.

Not wanting to get ahead of themselves, the

coaches readily agreed to take it one game at a time and see where it would

lead.

That philosophy, an aggressive early-scoring offense and improved

overall defense paid huge dividends as the Kapa’a Warriors captured this year’s

KIF baseball title by defeating the five-time defending champion Kaua’i Red

Raiders 9-2 before a large and boisterous crowd at the Ron Martin Field

Saturday.

For the eleventh time in thirteen contests this season, the

Warriors struck first as Ikaika Pezario led off with a walk and promptly stole

second base.

A fielding error on Justin Matsukawa’s ground ball put two

runners on and KIF batting leader Micah Furtado singled up the middle off

Raider Mark Rodrigues to drive in Pezario with the game’s initial run and move

Matsukawa to third.

Furtado stole second and Kaleo Lopez’ fielder’s choice

grounder to the right side knocked in Matsukawa for a 2-0 score. Rodrigues

struck out the next Kapa’a batter but another fielding error allowed Furtado to

sprint home with the third run of the inning.

Kaua`i got a run back in the

top of the third as DH Casey Oketani drew a base on balls and took second on

Kamanu Grace’s sac bunt. A Lopez strikeout garnered the second out of the

inning, but Tyler Kobayashi, batting .425 for the season, lined a 2-2 offering

to left for the Raiders’ first hit of the ball game to score Oketani.

Kapa`a countered in the bottom half as Pezario singled and was moved to

second on Matsukawa’s sacrifice. A walk to Furtado put two on and a one-out

wild pitch moved the pair up a bag.

Mundon lined a single to right to tally

Pezario and Furtado and put the Warriors up 5-1.

The Warriors added two

more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Matsukawa’s ground ball was misplayed

and Furtado sliced a single to left.

The two Kapa’a base runners raced home

with the home team’s sixth and seventh runs on a long double to right center by

Lopez.

The eastside squad scored their final two runs in dramatic fashion.

Sean Tamura led off the home half of the sixth by drawing a full count walk off

Raider reliever Scott Oshima, who was seeing his first action since fracturing

the thumb on his non-throwing hand at the end of the first round of

play.

An errant toss in the infield allowed Tamura to take second and

Branden Bonilla lofted Oshima’s 2-1 offering just over the outstretched reach

of Grace at the left field fence for a round tripper to put the Warriors up

9-1.

Grace led off the Raiders’ last chance effort in the top of the

seventh with a twisting double down the left field line.

Lopez picked up

his third strikeout of the afternoon for the first out, but a wild pitch to

Kobayashi allowed Grace to take third. Kobayashi’s ground ball to the right

side was thrown wide of the first base bag and Grace hustled in with Kaua`i’s

final run.

A pop fly to Furtado accounted for the second out, and Matsukawa

made a stellar stop of a smash to his right and strong-armed the long throw to

catch the final Raider batter by a step to give Kapa`a the second round title

and their first KIF baseball championship in 12 years.

Lopez was masterful

in going the distance, picking up his second win of the season while scattering

five hits, walking 4, hitting 1 batter and striking out 3.

Rodrigues (4

strikeouts) and Oshima limited the Warriors to 6 hits and 3 walks, but Kapa’a

made the most of their opportunities. Only a single Warrior base runner failed

to score while the Raiders left 7 on the bags.

Kobayashi (2 singles, 2

RBIs) and Santos (double, single) paired hits to lead the Raiders (7-6 overall,

4-3 in the second round of play).

Furtado ended a dream season for the

Warriors with a 2-2 effort (2 singles, RBI, stolen base, 3 runs scored) and

Lopez (double), Mundon and Bonilla (home run) knocked in 2 runs apiece for the

champions.

Kapa’a (10-3 overall, 5-2) moves on to the Baseball State

Championships to be held at Iron Maehara Stadium on Maui from May 17-20. You

can rest assured that the newly crowned champs will be savoring the moment and

taking it “one game at a time”.