WAILUA — Lihu‘e woke up in the third inning en route to winning the senior softball league championship, yesterday in Wailua. The Lihu‘e A’s bats exploded for six hits to drive five runs in the third and fourth frames en
WAILUA — Lihu‘e woke up in the third inning en route to winning the senior softball league championship, yesterday in Wailua.
The Lihu‘e A’s bats exploded for six hits to drive five runs in the third and fourth frames en route to a 20-11 win over East Kaua‘i for the league title.
Sherwood Iida, a player for the Kawaihau team who was watching the action from the first base line, said Lihu‘e won the first round, and after dropping a contest to the Rookies, finished tied with East Kaua‘i for the second round.
“Lihu‘e beat East Kaua‘i four times in the regular season,” Iida said. “But if East Kaua‘i wins, they get to play another game for the title.”
That set the stage for yesterday’s playoff at the Wailua Houselots Park, a neutral field, according to Iida. Normally, his team plays at Wailua, and the veteran softballer said it was fortunate for both teams that it rained the night before.
“It compacted the ground so nobody is going to get injured,” Iida said.
East Kaua‘i lost little time getting onto the scorebooks as they opened with the inning-limited five runs in the first frame behind hits from Damien Victorino (1-4), Alex Youn (2-4), Larry Ephan (3-4), Tom Ganong (3-4), Jerome Hew (2-4), and Ron Javier (1-3).
But with the wakening of the Lihu‘e A’s, EK runners could only muster one run through the fifth inning on five hits.
Trailing 5-2 entering the third inning, Lihu‘e pulled ahead in the third and fourth frames by plating the inning-limit five runs in each frame for a 12-5 lead after four frames.
Bernard Mahuiki (4-5) led the explosion with a three-run in-the-park homer in the fourth inning.
This was the first of three HRs whacked by the A’s en route to their win.
Mahuiki, in the catcher’s position for the A’s, also limbered up his vocal cords and started the banter in the third inning and carried through the contest.
Ernie Domingo (3-5), the A’s centerfielder, followed with a hit in each of the frames, scoring Mahuiki and Frank Medeiros in the third with a two-bagger to rightfield, and plating Peter Rayno in the fourth on an RBI shot to centerfield.
With the cap removed in the seventh inning, the A’s poured on seven more runs on seven hits including a three-run in-the-park homer from Ismo Yoshishige (2-4) that plated Domingo and Braddah Rittmeister (2-4).
“That’s what killed us the last time,” said Rayno, following the team’s title-clinching win. “In the last inning, you just go-for-broke, and we couldn’t stop ‘em.”
Trailing 20-6 in the bottom, EK could only answer with five runs on five hits including its only home run in the contest. With two outs, Larry Ephan (3-4) whacked into a two-run ITP homer to plate Youn for the final 20-11 math.
Rittmeister picked up the win for the A’s on the mound while Norman Holt suffered the loss for EK.
Mahuiki, Domingo and Dwight Fujii (3-5) led the A’s batting while Ephan, Tom Ganong (3-4) and Youn led the EK batters.
With the win, the A’s defend their title from last year and prepare for the state tournament coming up on the Big Island.
