KAPA‘A —Waimea High School took both ends of Saturday’s double-header against Kapa‘a, 7-4, 12-1 to set the stage for a showdown at home against the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders, both teams sporting 1-loss records. The Kapa‘a High School baseball
KAPA‘A —Waimea High School took both ends of Saturday’s double-header against Kapa‘a, 7-4, 12-1 to set the stage for a showdown at home against the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders, both teams sporting 1-loss records.
The Kapa‘a High School baseball team was in it until three costly errors pulled the plug on the opener as the Menehune capitalized on three runs in the ninth inning to take a 7-4 victory in the Kealia Mist atop the hill at the Ron Martin Field.
Perhaps it was the nice new fencing that came courtesy of parent supporters who donated the materials and effort to install the new boundaries along both outfield lines, but the Warriors were in the game until the end in the opener of Saturday’s double-header.
Working behind the bats of Tyson Cremer, one of the league’s hottest bats, Travis Nakamura, and Ashkhon Kuhaulua, Kapa‘a outhit Waimea 11-4 in the first game, Cremer and Nakamura each coming up with a trio of whacks with Kuhaulua adding a pair.
Waimea finished the outing with just four hits through nine innings.
Kapa‘a also left a truckload of runners stranded as they closed the books with 14 on board compared to the nine left on base by the Menehune.
Robin Correa picked up the victory in the first game, pitching eight of the nine innings and allowing four runs on ten hits while hitting three Kapa‘a batters.
Moses Punzal who came in as second relief for starter Joshua Teves suffered the loss.
Waimea notched scores in the second and fourth frame for a 2-0 lead that stood until Kapa‘a’s Nakamura banged an RBI double to drive Kai Lopez across the plate in the bottom of the fourth, and William Sasil, pinch running for Punzal in the bottom of the sixth, scored on a squeeze play to knot the game 2-2.
A balk in the eighth frame pushed courtesy runner Troy Yamase across the plate followed by Michael Ishibashi driving home Travis Delima only to have Kapa‘a answer in the bottom of the frame with Kuhaulua, Nakamura, and Rivera coming up with three straight hits to load the bases for Cremer’s RBI hit for the answering pair.
Shawn Yadao opened the ninth on a walk, and a routine Leonard Zalopany bunt saw the throw out go awry to drive home a pair of runs for the final math.
The second contest saw more of the misty conditions as Waimea capitalized on Warrior errors and walks to take a 12-1 win in six innings.
Travis Delima picked up the win for Waimea with three hits allowed while striking out four and allowing no walks.
William Sasil suffered the loss for Kapa‘a allowing two walks in just an inning.
Waimea will host the Red Raiders on Wednesday at the Hanapepe Stadium in a single contest starting at 2:45 p.m.
The game will be broadcast live on KQNG Am 570 with “Anahola” Joel Pahukula doing the live play-by-play action. Air time should be around 2:35 p.m.
