LIHU‘E — If someone told you Waimea’s boys baseball team would have more errors than hits and runs combined in a game this season, a funny look would probably have been the last thing you’d be thinking of giving that person.
LIHU‘E — If someone told you Waimea’s boys baseball team would have more errors than hits and runs combined in a game this season, a funny look would probably have been the last thing you’d be thinking of giving that person.
And if that same person, or a different one, for that matter, were to tell you that Kaua‘i High School would knock out the mighty Menehune 13-1 in five innings due to the mercy rule, in probably the most important game of the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation’s second round, you probably would have requested the padded ambulance and straight jacket for that person.
But that’s what happened when the Menehune self-destructed in the second game of a doubleheader yesterday at Vidinha Stadium, against Kaua‘i High School.
Waimea committed 10 errors, eight in the bottom of the fourth inning, when the Raiders scored 12 runs on just two hits. Of Kaua‘i High’s 13 runs in the 13-1 shellacking, 10 were unearned.
Waimea out-hit Kaua‘i High, seven to three, but could muster just one run off Dalston Miyasato, who pitched the entire game and picked up his second victory of the season. He does not have a loss.
Andrew Ouderkirk absorbed the loss, falling to 2-1 on the season.
Maybe the Menehune meltdown could have been predicted when, trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning, Paul Correa led off with a smash to deep center that looked like an extra-base hit, until Rysan Sakamoto made a stab for the ball with his back to the infield, robbing Correa.
Waimea didn’t appear to be done, though, as they loaded the bases in that frame on back-to-back walks to Kailen Malama and Dillon Ishihara, but failed to score.
Correa was two for three, and Robert Perreira and Malama were among the Waimea hitters, with Gavin Jardin getting the lone RBI on a sacrifice fly, too little too late in the fifth inning.
Taran Tani, Lanan Rice-Kashima and Miyasato had the Raider hits, with Tani and Rice-Kashima credited with one RBI each, and Miyasato stroking a 2-RBI single.
If yet another person were to tell you that the Menehune would go two games without scoring more than one run total, well, you may have just chosen to walk away from that person.
But that’s also what happened Saturday.
In the first game, junior catcher Rice-Kashima cracked two doubles and a triple, knocking in one and scoring two runs, and Jensen Koga pitched a four-hitter, as Kaua‘i High School shut out Waimea, 6-0.
Koga struck out five and didn’t walk or hit a batter, and scored a run and drove in another to help his own cause.
Dustin Prem, Kaylen Wakumoto, Rysan Sakamoto, Travis Koga and Dalston Miyasato all had single hits for the Raiders, with Prem credited with an RBI, and Travis Koga scoring two runs. Wakumoto and Travis Koga each added a stolen base, and Miyasato scored a run.
The bottom of the second inning was the undoing for Waimea, with Kaua‘i High scoring three runs on three hits, aided by a Waimea error and two wild pitches from Waimea starter Christopher Ka‘iakapu.
Kaua‘i High added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth inning, when Travis Koga reached on an error, stole a base, and was brought home by Jensen Koga’s sacrifice fly to left.
Courtesy runner Matthew Ebueng, running for Rice-Kashima in the bottom of the sixth inning, took third and home on wild pitches.
Ka‘iakapu worked six innings, giving up eight hits and just one earned run. He took the loss. The winning Raider runs in the second inning were all unearned.
Waimea did not get a runner past second base in the first game. Malama was two for two, and Perreira and Isaa Horner had the other Waimea hits.
Kaua‘i High moved to 4-0 in the second round, 7-3 overall, with the wins, while Waimea fell to 3-2 in the second round and 8-3 overall.
Kapa‘a is 0-5 in the second round, and 1-10 overall.
Waimea is the first-round champ.
The second round may or may not end with the Raiders’ traveling to Kapa‘a for a single game Wednesday, at 3:30 p.m.
If Kaua‘i High wins, they will be second-round champs, and will play a one-game playoff against Waimea for the KIF title and the sole KIF slot in the Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association state tournament on O‘ahu early next month.
If the Warriors win, then the suspended game involving Waimea and Kaua‘i, which ended 7-7 after seven innings and was called due to darkness at Hanapepe Stadium, will be completed.
If Waimea wins that game, they will tie Kaua‘i at 4-2 in the second round, and a playoff game will be held to determine the second-round winner.
If Waimea wins that game, they will be KIF champs. If Kaua‘i wins the second-round playoff game, a single game will be scheduled to crown the KIF champ.
If Kaua‘i wins the suspended game, they will be second-round champs, and the one-game playoff for the KIF title will be scheduled, with the home team determined by coin flip.
How the scenarios will play out will largely be determined on Wednesday at Ron Martin Athletic Field in Kapa‘a.
• Paul C. Curtis, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
