LIHU‘E — Southside capitalized on Waimea Poi Boi’s pitching to push a late-game run across the plate Thursday evening for a 6-5 win to bring all three Babe Ruth teams to a 1-1 standing. “It was a heartbreaker,” Waimea coach
LIHU‘E — Southside capitalized on Waimea Poi Boi’s pitching to push a late-game run across the plate Thursday evening for a 6-5 win to bring all three Babe Ruth teams to a 1-1 standing. “It was a heartbreaker,” Waimea coach Don Ouderkirk said. “They got the lead, we caught up, and they came back to win.”
“But, the boys are good. LZ (Leonard Zalopany) smacked a nice one to rightfield, and Brock Santiago has some potential,” Ouderkirk said. Waimea will have a chance to grab the lead Friday when they host Lihu‘e at Hanapepe Stadium.
Southside plays again Saturday morning at Vidinha Stadium starting at 10 a.m. Jake Oketani scored twice to lead the Southside win, his first run coming in the second inning icebreaker when he scored on an RBI walk issued to Curtis Matsumura, and his second crossing icing the win in the seventh inning on another RBI walk to Matsumura.
The Poi Boi’s answered with two runs in the fourth inning as Shawn Yadao, drawing first on a walk, and catcher Brandon Ishibashi scoring only to have Southside answer in the bottom of the frame with retaliating scores by Tyson Cremer and Matsumura. LZ, Mason Lorenzo, and Santiago scored to pull Waimea into the lead at the top of the seventh only to have Southside answer as evening began to settle in. With no outs, Southside had a full-base situation setting up Sam Dias’ RBI single to centerfield scoring Casey Oketani for the 5-5 tie, and setting the stage for the go-ahead as lefty Matsumura faced Isaac Castillo who relieved Zalopany following Dias’ RBI bang.
