Reichle saves day for Red Raiders

HANAPEPE — Kaua’i’s Alec Reichle had everything going his way through six stellar innings against Waimea in the opening KIF baseball game of the season on Saturday.

Reichle struckout 10 Menehune hitters while yielding just three hits and a run. Through six innings, the Red Raiders’ hurler threw an economical 60 pitches with just one walk.

In the seventh inning, things weren’t so easy for Reichle.

The Kaua’i pitcher yielded a two-run homer in the frame before settling down in delivering the Red Raiders to a 4-3 win at Hanapepe Field.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Waimea’s bats came to life for a 14-4 victory in six innings.

In the first game, Reichle was able to hit his spots early in the contest.

“Today I felt good out there,” Reichle said. “My changeup was working and once I got ahead of the hitters, I was able to use all of my junk pitches.”

After Brandon Ishibashi singled to lead off the seventh inning, Clarence Aki blasted a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall to bring the Menehune to within a run.

Robin Correa then singled sharply to left. Correa advanced to second base on a sacrifice setting the stage for either Isaac Castillo or Levi Maeda to bring in the tying run.

However, just as it looked as though Waimea would get even with Kaua’i, Reichle regained control to retire Castillo and Maeda on a flyout and strikeout respectively.

“I was hitting my spots pretty well,” Reichle said. “The ball that Clarence hit was down. He just had a good swing on it. You can’t do much about it.”

The Red Raiders jumped out to a 1-0 edge in the first inning as Jake Oketani singled in Reichle.

Oketani later added a solo blast in the third inning. In the second inning, both teams added runs.

First, Shawn Ogata laced an RBI single to left on an 0-2 count. In the bottom of the frame, Correa crushed a Reichle offering to dead center to put the Menehune on the scoreboard.

For the game, the Red Raiders pounded out seven hits while Waimea totaled six hits.

Waimea pitcher Michael Yaris had a good pitching performance, going seven innings with six strikeouts and four walks.