Kaua‘i PONY all stars at state semis

The Kaua‘i PONY all stars will be facing Windward in the semifinals of the State PONY Baseball tournament on the Big Island today.

According to Lisa Fernandez, whose son Tanner is on the team, time for the semifinal game was yet to be determined.

Kaua‘i rebounded from its opening day loss to win two straight games to advance to the semifinals. On Saturday, Kaua‘i blasted an 11-6 win over Kalanianaole Athletic Club and followed that with a 4-3 edge over Maui in extra innings yesterday.

Two home runs pushed Kaua‘i into the lead against KAC as Kalama Resquer-Yorkman belted a 3-run homer to deep rightfield to plate Steven Werner and Ioane Toyofuku for the 5-2 lead in the fourth inning.

That was followed by Dylan Ishihara plating Mana Perreira-Alquiza on a 2-run HR in the fifth inning for the 7-2 lead.

A Shea Shimabukuro RBI and a KAC error accounted for the final score as Resquer-Yorkman scored on Shimabukuro’s shot to rightfield and Shimabukuro crossed on the KAC miscue.

Kaua‘i bats broke the stalemate in the third inning when Randall Jacinto got on base on a KAC miscue. With two outs, Perreira-Alquiza’s 2-RBI shot to centerfield pushed Jacinto and Shimabukuro, singling to left, across the plate for a 2-0 lead that was promptly answered by KAC.

Werner came up with the big bat as he whacked an RBI single to score Jordan Kitabayashi in the bottom of the eighth inning for Kaua‘i’s 4-3 edge over Maui yesterday.

Walks came back to bite Maui early in the contest as Shimabukuro and Perreira-Alquiza, both walking to first, scored the opening runs on a shot by Ishihara in the first inning.

Maui scored in the third inning to tie the contest 2-2, and another score in the fourth gave them a 3-2 lead.

Kaua‘i answered in the fifth frame when Ishihara drove Shimabukuro home to knot the contest 3-3 and force the extra inning.