Bryan Ceballos and Wyatt Silva cranked out in-the-park homeruns to lead Waimea to a 13-10 comeback over Lihu‘e II, Sunday. Earlier in the day, Kalawai, an 11-3 winner over the Hanapepe Cubs last Thursday, fell to Kapa‘a 11-10. At the
Bryan Ceballos and Wyatt Silva cranked out in-the-park homeruns to lead Waimea to a 13-10 comeback over Lihu‘e II, Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Kalawai, an 11-3 winner over the Hanapepe Cubs last Thursday, fell to Kapa‘a 11-10.
At the Kekaha field, the Lihu‘e 1 team continued its streak with a 14-1 win over hosting Kekaha.
With just one more game in the PONY baseball season coming up Thursday, Lihu‘e II, dropping a 9-6 contest to Kapa‘a, Thursday, got another dose of the “two-out-itis” which had been plauging the team over the past three weeks.
Lihu‘e II struck early and got on the boards with a 7-2 lead in the third inning, but Waimea, getting a taste of victory with a 9-5 edge over Kekaha Thursday started its comeback.
K.J. Morikawa opened the fourth frame on a bunt single and advanced all the way to third base on errors. The pause at third was brief as Kai Ortiz drove the Waimea second baseman home on an RBI single.
Ortiz came home on an RBI single from Waimea lead-off hitter Ceballos for the 7-4 deficit after four frames.
Waimea was not done yet as Silva tripled to open the fifth and scored on another RBI shot. Tanner Fernandez followed with a single and after stealing second and third, came home on a Morikawa RBI single.
For the second time, Ortiz drove Morikawa across the plate, and an error trying to pick Ortiz off at third base resulted in a 7-7 tie, setting the stage for Ceballos’ homerun with two outs.
Lihue II answered with a score in the fifth on an infield single and a 2-run ITP homer of its own in the sixth frame to draw within one point, but Silva put the game away in the seventh with his 2-run ITP homer.
Lihu‘e II never gave up, its parent/fan base continuing to heap encouragement into the dugout, but a double play, the second in a scoring opportunity inning, ended the contest.
Lihu‘e II makes the trip to the Kalawai Park against Kalawai Thursday the final regular season games of the PONY season.
Kapa‘a will travel to the Waimea Canyon Park for a game against Waimea, and Lihu‘e 1 will host the Hanapepe Cubs at Vidinha Stadium.
All games start at 4:15 p.m.
According to league official Dondi Viquelia, the single elimination playoffs start Sunday and continue with games on June 11 and June 15 with a championship game on June 18, if necessary.
