LIHU‘E — While it didn’t have any bearing on the standings, a win on Senior Day was enough of an incentive for the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, who played their regulars and came away with a 5-3 win over the Waimea
LIHU‘E — While it didn’t have any bearing on the standings, a win on Senior Day was enough of an incentive for the Kaua‘i Red Raiders, who played their regulars and came away with a 5-3 win over the Waimea Menehune, Wednesday afternoon at Vidinha Stadium.
The Menehune had already clinched the second-round championship and now finish with a 4-1 record in the season’s second half. The Red Raiders, after a 4-1-1 first round, closed the second half at 3-3.
The two teams were just offering up an appetizer, as Saturday will showcase the main course. The Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship game between Kaua‘i and Waimea is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, again at Vidinha Stadium.
The location was determined by a coin toss at the conclusion of Wednesday’s game, which the Red Raiders won to ensure the home field.
Having won the season’s first round in a one-game playoff against Waimea, Kaua‘i lost three of its first four games to start the second round. The Menehune clinched the spot in the title game with a doubleheader sweep of the Kapa‘a Warriors this past Saturday at Hanapepe Stadium.
Now the teams will meet for the eighth time this year, with the victor heading to O‘ahu for the Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament. Including the first-round playoff game, the season series has been an even split to this point. Each team has won three times, with one game ending in a tie.
Nicholas Vallatini got the complete-game victory for the Raiders, giving up three runs on seven Waimea hits, walking three and striking out four.
Second baseman Erin Doi hit out of the leadoff spot and was 3 for 3 with three RBIs for Kaua‘i, including a two-run single in the fourth inning to break a 2-2 tie and give the Raiders the lead for good.
Other than Doi, it was the bottom of the Raider lineup that did most of the damage. Shortstop Hank “Kawika” Ibia was flashing the leather in the field, as well as going 3 for 3 with two runs scored.
First baseman Travis Koga was 2 for 3 with two runs and center fielder Dreyke Smith-Butac was 1 for 2 with a run. Austin Oshiro and Stephen Perreira each went 1 for 3. Cody Juarez pinch hit in the sixth inning and picked up an RBI with a sacrifice fly.
Mikeo Rita went 2 for 2 with a run and a walk for the Menehune, the only Waimea player with a multi-hit day.
Shylen Keuma went 1 for 3 with a double and an RBI, while Jordan Kamakea was 1 for 3 with a run and an RBI. Alika Emayo, Bryson Tacata and Chyson Soares each went 1 for 4, while Kaimana Perreira-Alquiza walked twice, scored a run and stole a base. Mikey Rita drove in a run on a fielder’s choice.
Keuma got the start on the mound and was relieved by Soares, who suffered the loss. B.J. Freitas came on to finish the game for Waimea.
The Menehune took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Mikeo Rita led off with a walk, followed by a Kamakea single. Despite the ball not getting out of the infield the rest of the inning, both runners managed to score on fielder’s choice plays from Keuma and Mikey Rita.
Kaua‘i struck back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, as Ibia, Perreira, Smith-Butac and Doi had four straight singles. Ibia and Smith-Butac each came across to score, tying the game at 2-2.
With the same score, Doi came up with runners at second and third and two outs in the fourth. He supplied a clutch single that plated both Travis Koga and Ibia for a 4-2 Kaua‘i lead.
Waimea sliced the deficit in half in the top of the sixth. Perreira-Alquiza walked, then stole second base. Mikeo Rita laid down a bunt and beat it out for a base hit. Kamakea then grounded into a fielder’s choice, which scored Perreira-Alquiza, making it a 4-3 game. Kamakea was then caught stealing to empty the basepaths, an out that loomed large when Keuma then smashed a deep drive that went off the fence for a double. He was stranded to end the inning with Waimea still down a run.
The Raiders added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, Travis Koga leading things off with a single. Ibia followed with an infield single on a chopper that the Waimea infield thought was a foul ball, though the “foul” call had not come from an umpire. Perreira bunted both runners over and Koga came in to score on a Juarez sac fly to center field.
Vallatini gave up a one-out single in the seventh to Emayo, but otherwise went unscathed to secure the victory.
During KIF play, Waimea is now 8-3-1 on the season. Kaua‘i is 8-4-1 and Kapa‘a finished at 1-10.
A rained out game between Waimea and Kapa‘a scheduled for April 5 was not made up because it had no effect on the standings.
