LIHUE — Covin “Keola” Resquer-Yorkman got help from Reggie Vigilia and Braden Balocan as he pitched the West Kauai All-Stars to an 8-2 win over the Lihue All-Stars as the Kauai Broncos opened their best two-of-three playoff series Tuesday afternoon
LIHUE — Covin “Keola” Resquer-Yorkman got help from Reggie Vigilia and Braden Balocan as he pitched the West Kauai All-Stars to an 8-2 win over the Lihue All-Stars as the Kauai Broncos opened their best two-of-three playoff series Tuesday afternoon at the Lihue County Park.
At stake is the right to represent Kauai at the state tournament which will be held on Oahu at the Mililani sports complex in July.
Resquer-Yorkman applied pressure behind the plate with a second-inning RBI double that scored Joey Allianic-Brun for the first run of the contest, Allianic-Brun getting aboard on a single, the first of four hits in the five-run WK frame.
Kailen Malama, also getting aboard on a single off Lihue pitcher Kalani Brackenridge, upped the ante on a fielder’s choice off Jordan Garcia’s bang.
Cole Parongao delivered a 2-RBI bunt with two outs to bring home Resquer-Yorkman and Keaka Canute for the 5-run, 4-hit frame in the second inning.
Lihue answered in the third by keeping WK bats silent, and challenged with Kaylen Wakumoto getting on board with a single, scoring on a Chris Liu RBI bunt single.
Jordan Leanio’s long double set the stage for Liu’s bunt with Jessica Iwata singling to bring home Leanio as Lihue closed the frame with a pair of runs on two hits, and WK committing a pair of miscues.
Close pitching shut down the scorebooks through the sixth inning when West Kauai made a final three-run statement as Michael Acoba, substituting for Canute, singled with two outs.
Max Agor, substituting for Loren Duarte, put down a textbook bunt single on the thirdbase line to set the stage for Parongao’s RBI single, scoring Acoba.
Parongao, poised for a steal of second, capitalized on the Lihue infield, moving to third on a series of throwing errors, scoring Agor in the process.
Parongao would score WK’s final run on a wild pitch.
Braden Balocan, who would pick up closing duties on the mound, banged a hard hit to pitcher Rayson Sakamoto who bobbled the hit and just missed the out to first base, but was left stranded as Sakamoto struck out Kaulana Silva.
Balocan capitalized on the shaky Lihue sixth frame, striking out the first two hitters with the final three outs coming on flies.
The WK win puts the pressure on Lihue who will travel to the Kato Field in Hanapepe for the second in the best-of-three series on Saturday for a 9:30 a.m. encounter.
This game will be followed by the Mustangs’ best-of-three playoff series starting at 11:30 a.m.
Should another set of games be needed, those games will start at 1:30 p.m.
