HANAPEPE – Kaili Panui’s towering grand slam in the top of the fifth inning broke a tense 9-9 deadlock, and Tyler Wakuta’s three-run blast an inning later capped a wild 16-13 Warrior victory and KIF prep baseball first round championship
HANAPEPE – Kaili Panui’s towering grand slam in the top of the fifth inning broke a tense 9-9 deadlock, and Tyler Wakuta’s three-run blast an inning later capped a wild 16-13 Warrior victory and KIF prep baseball first round championship Wednesday afternoon at Hanapepe Ball Park.
The Menehunes, who initially took an early 2-0 lead, found themselves trailing 7-5 after 3-1/2 innings.
A throwing error allowed speedy Levi Maeda to scamper home and one huge three-rbi swing off Leonard Zalopany’s bat changed matters as he pulled reliever Kyle Neuberger’s offering out to the right field bleachers to put Waimea up 9-7.
Kapa’a outfielder Rayton Bonilla led off the fifth with a single and hustled around to score on two Menehune throwing errors. Hot-hitting Jared Raquel drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in Matt Isoda with the tying run to set the stage for Panui’s theatrics.
The Menehunes, who battled their way into the championship game after starting the season at 0-3, is characteristic for not folding quickly.
The visitors had to sweat through three pitching changes in the bottom half of the sixth as Waimea rallied for four runs on one single, six walks and a Warrior throwing error.
Tyler Wakuta induced a bases-loaded fly-out to center to prematurely end the Menehune threat and closed the door in the seventh on a game-ending line-out with the potential tying run on deck.
The Menehunes host the Kaua’i Red Raiders (3-4) on Saturday, April 20, in an 11 a.m. double-header to begin the second round of play.
Hitting
Kapa’a – 16
Player ab r h rbi
T.Wakuta SS/P 4 2 2 1
Nakano 2B 4 1 0 0
Raquel 1B/P/3B 3 3 2 1
Panui CF 4 2 2 5
Neuberger DH/P/1B 5 1 1 2
B.Wakuta C 3 0 0 0
Mundon CR 0 1 0 0
Bonilla RF 2 3 1 0
Lopez P 2 0 0 0
Isoda 3B/SS 1 1 0 0
Merkel LF 2 2 0 0
Noone PH 1 0 0 0
Kimura 3B 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 16 8 9
Waimea – 13
Player ab r h rbi
Aki P 4 0 3 1
Maeda CR 0 1 0 0
M.Ishibashi 2B 3 2 0 0
B.Ishibashi C 4 0 0 0
Schonberg CR 0 1 0 0
Correa DH 4 2 1 2
Acoba PR 0 1 0 0
Ruiz 1B 2 2 1 0
L.Zalopany 3B 2 2 1 4
Yadao LF 3 1 0 0
Moniz PH 1 0 0 0
Parinas RF 2 1 1 1
Cacal CF 4 0 1 1
Emayo SS 0 0 0 0
Shirai P 0 0 0 0
Totals 29 13 8 9
E- Kimura, T. Wakuta, B. Wakuta, Aki 2, Emayo, L. Zalopany. DP- Kapa’a 1. LOB- Kapa’a 4, Waimea 9. 2B- Raquel, Correa, Aki. 3B- Neuberger, Ruiz. HR- Panui, T. Wakuta, L. Zalopany. SH- Lopez. SF- Cacal. SB- Nakano, Merkel, Raquel, Parinas.
Pitching
Name IP H R ER BB SO
Kapa’a –
Lopez 2 1/3 3 5 3 4 1
Neuberger 3 4 6 2 4 1
Raquel 0 0 2 2 2 0
T.Wakuta 1 2/3 1 0 0 3 1
Waimea –
Aki 5 1/3 7 14 4 8 5
Shirai 1 2/3 1 2 2 0 2
Score by Innings
Team 123 456 7 – R H E
Kapa’a (4-3) 023 263 0 – 16 8 3
Waimea (4-4) 212 404 0 – 13 8 4
