KAPA’A – The KIF prep baseball standings got a whole lot closer on Saturday afternoon as Kapa’a got an eight-hit, four strike-out complete game effort from starter Kyle Neuberger to fend off the Red Raiders 5-3 at Ron Martin Field.
KAPA’A – The KIF prep baseball standings got a whole lot closer on Saturday afternoon as Kapa’a got an eight-hit, four strike-out complete game effort from starter Kyle Neuberger to fend off the Red Raiders 5-3 at Ron Martin Field.
Menehune baseball coaches Kui Souza and Liko Perreira were interested spectators among the baseball faithful who enjoyed the sunny day, music and sporting excitement on the Warrior campus.
The victory, in fact, created a logjam with all three KIF ball clubs all tied up with identical three-win, three-loss records at the end of first round play.
Kapa’a bounced back from Wednesday’s 13-6 drubbing at the hands of idle Waimea thanks, in part, to a steady regimen of defensive instruction over the last two practices, a shakeup of the lineup card, and a team breakfast bonding session prior to the start of yesterday’s clash.
The visitors, however, got on the scoreboard first as lead-off batter Alec Reichle was plunked by an errant offering and hustled all the way to third on Scott Serizawa’s bunt single. Reichle sprinted home on Casey Oketani’s fielder’s choice grounder to short for a short-lived 1-0 Raider lead. A two-out fielding error allowed Warrior Jared Raquel to reach safely and a long double to right-center gap by Kaili Panui brought the long-strided first baseman around the bags to tie the ball game.
Consecutive ground rule doubles to left by Neuberger and Brad Wakuta knocked in Panui and courtesy runner Clesson Hiranaka as Kapa’a quickly claimed a 3-1 advantage after one inning of play.
Kaua’i tied the contest in the top of the fourth as Casey Oketani slapped a one-out, seeing-eye single through the box.
Jake Oketani was unintentionally hit and Titus Hori took his place on the base paths.
A Gabriel Rebb infield single loaded the bags and Kyle Higashi’s clutch infield single cashed in Oketani. Hori raced home with the tying run when the relay to the plate went astray.
Panui opened the home fifth with a single and sprinted to third on Neuberger’s follow-up base hit.
Hiranaka (running again for the Warrior pitcher) stole second and an infield throwing error allowed both runners to scamper across the plate to regain the lead for good.
Kaua’i had opportunities in both the sixth and seventh frames but the steady Neuberger worked repeatedly out of jams due to excellent defensive play by Keoni Nakano and Raquel on the right side of the Warrior infield, with tying runs aboard.
The three-team deadlock forced a coin flip to determine the pairings and locales of next weeks extra-curricular play-off action.
The Menehunes travel to Vidinha Stadium on Monday, April 15, for a 2:45 p.m. clash with the Raiders. The winner of that contest will host the Kapa’a Warriors at 2:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17, for the KIF first round title.
