Menehune sneak up on Raiders in 8th inning

LIHU‘E — Errors opened the floodgates and allowed four runs to give Waimea High School a 10-9 edge over Kaua‘i in eight innings Wednesday night at Isenberg Field.

After leading the Menehune through six innings, Waimea tied the match, 6-6 to force the extra inning in opening game of the the Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation softball second round.

Krysta Kali, scoring her two runs of the game in the seventh and eighth innings, got aboard in the seventh inning on a Raider miscue with no outs and promptly stole secondbase.

Perhaps it was the pressure on the Red Raiders of trying to get out of the inning without allowing any runs, or perhaps it was the fatigue factor, but Taylor “Kawehi” Ephan, after coming up empty on three prior at-bats, laced into a double to drive Kali across the plate.

Gaylen “Ulu” Matagiese, marking a solo homerun in the second inning and a double in the fifth inning, flew out, followed by Deannalynn Tafiti, who picked up the win on the mound, hitting into the infield for the second out. The out pushed Ephan across the plate for the 6-6 tie.

The Raiders worked to preserve a win in regulation. To lead off the bottom of the seventh Moana Waipa conked a double, but was cut down when Jenessa Maghanoy hit into a double play with one away.

Ka‘a La‘amea meted out her pitches, getting the first Menehune in the eighth to pop an infield fly to Daeja Cummings, Kaua‘i’s first base.

Cassandra Dupree laced her third single of the night followed by Bryana Yorkman and Kali filling the bases after being hit by pitches.

Ephan followed and on the fifth pitch, smacked a long ball which popped out of the left fielder’s mitt, pushing three runners across the plate in the rundown with Ephan landing on third base on the miscue.

Matagiese, getting first on a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and Ephan scored on the errant ball for the fourth run of the inning for the 10-6 bulge.

Faced with the four-run deficit, the Raiders took the field with Kirra Jaquias, Kyana Hirokane and La‘amea getting hits to fill the pads with no outs.

La‘amea, in addition to her pitching duties, pushed Jaquias and Hirokane across the plate with her RBI single, cutting the deficit to two runs, 10-8.

Cummings got aboard after being hit by a pitch, the third time in the night the first baseman was smacked by the ball.

Karlyee Malapit, representing the tying run, hit into a fielder’s choice, Cummings being cut down at second base.

But the game was cut short when the next batter flied to center and Malapit was thrown out to end a wild two innings.

After taking out the Menehune in order, Kaua‘i marked two runs in the opening inning, Maghanoy, doubling to get aboard, scoring on a Jaquias play, Jaquias coming home on a Malapit RBI single to centerfield for the 2-0 bulge which was answered by Waimea in the second with Matagiese’s solo homer.

But Kaua‘i countered when Aniase Soltren marked an in-the-park solo homer to rightfield to set the see-saw in motion.

Kaua‘i bats marked 11 hits led by Soltren’s homerun and Waipa finishing with an RBI on a single and double.

The Raiders also had seven batters being hit, Cummings getting three, Maghanoy twice and La‘amea and Soltren once.

Waimea bats chalked up nine hits led by Matagiese’s homerun and double, scoring once and driving two runs home. The Menehune saw six hitters getting hit by pitches.

Ephan scored three times, marked a double and finished with four runs batted in. Sienna Santiago singled and had an RBI, Tafiti scored once, singled and had an RBI and Dupree scored once, marked two singles and had an RBI.

With the come-from-behind win in extra innings, the Menehune next host Kapa‘a High School in a double-header, Saturday at the Waimea Canyon Park, the first pitch going at 10 a.m.

• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.