KAPA‘A — The Kawaihau Majors All-Stars wasted no-time showing that they wanted to go to O‘ahu; it just took six stressful innings before they could book the tickets. Kawaihau scored three runs in the first inning and held off a
KAPA‘A — The Kawaihau Majors All-Stars wasted no-time showing that they wanted to go to O‘ahu; it just took six stressful innings before they could book the tickets.
Kawaihau scored three runs in the first inning and held off a late Kailua rally to win the Little League District 1 tournament, 4-3, Tuesday afternoon at New Kapa‘a Town Park Main Diamond.
With the win, the All-Stars advance to the state tournament beginning July 20 on O‘ahu.
“We were squeezed at the end of that one,” Kawaihau coach Ken Nagahisa said. “It turned into another pitcher’s duel.”
Kawaihau took the lead early with three runs in the first inning with RBI singles off the bats of Kean Camalliri and Dusten Ramseyer-Burdett.
After Kailua scored runs in the second and third innings to come within a run, Kawaihau took the two-run advantage again in bottom of the third when Chayse Basuel hit a ground-rule-double and came around to score on an error two batters later to make the score 4-2.
With the two-run lead, Kawaihau starter Blaise Banquel continued to cruise through the lineup until La‘akea Matthews smacked a fifth inning opposite-field home run to bring Kailua within a run.
Kawaihau rebounded, though, in the sixth inning. Banquel reached his pitch count after getting the first out and gave way for Jayden Palenapa to come in relief. Palenapa got the second out right away, walked a batter, then got Kalae Pauli to ground out to end the game.
Banquel finished the game with seven strike outs and was a big key to the victory, Nagahisa said.
“We felt his off-speed stuff would work well against their lineup,” he said. “And it was excellent.”
Banquel was the beneficiary of some stellar defense behind him. With the bases loaded in the fourth inning and one out, second baseman Ekoul Rivera snagged a line drive and tossed the ball over to first base for the double play on the tag up.
“That was really big,” Nagahisa said. “That was the turning point to the game. It gave us momentum.”
Nagahisa said he still thinks his team’s hitting needs to improve before the state tournament, but with a couple of weeks to prepare and the knowledge that they can awake from their slumber, the coach said he’s looking forward to the task.
“We know what we need to work on,” he said. “And the spooky thing is I know we can hit.”
• Tyson Alger, sports writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or by emailing talger@ thegardenisland.com. Follow him on twitter.com/tysonalger.
