HANAPEPE — The Waimea High School Menehune struck early with a run in the first inning and that was all it needed with B.J. Freitas on the mound. Freitas went all seven innings and didn’t allow a run in Waimea’s
HANAPEPE — The Waimea High School Menehune struck early with a run in the first inning and that was all it needed with B.J. Freitas on the mound.
Freitas went all seven innings and didn’t allow a run in Waimea’s 3-0 win over the Kapa‘a High School Warriors Wednesday at Hanapepe Stadium.
“We talked to B.J. at practice and we told him how good he has to be,” said Waimea head coach Michael Rita. “He is a four-year player and he is the captain of this team, and the team has to look up to him.”
The Menehune win delayed Kapa‘a’s quest for the second round crown and keeps Waimea and the Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders’ hopes alive for a three-way tie for first.
“On the coaching side, we were looking at the team coming off the three losses to Kaua‘i,” Rita said. “The team still looked focus and at practice and we did some team bonding with each other and they fought hard today.”
The Menehune scored first off a Bryton Lumabao double that drove in Mikey Rita, on base after a walk.
Lumabao finished the day with a double, single and an RBI.
Kapa‘a had opportunities to score but couldn’t come up with a key hit. Twice it had runners on second and third with two outs and came up empty.
“(Freitas) had some good stuff, but we made some bad decisions on pitches we were swinging at,” said Kapa‘a head coach Bryan Aiwohi. “We swung at some way out of the zone, and we had a bad base running mistake, which was crucial.”
The Menehune added to its 1-0 lead in the third inning. Freitas reached base after being hit by a pitch, and Rita walked. That set the stage for Brock Ephan, who fell behind 0-2 to Kapa‘a pitcher Nick Tabura, then singled up the middle to drive in both runners.
“We kept letting them get lead runners on,” Aiwohi said. “We made some base running errors and some defensive errors and we just didn’t execute that’s the bottom line.”
Kapa‘a will have another opportunity to win the round on Saturday in a continuation of the doubleheader that was rained out on April 13. The game will continue at 10 a.m. on Saturday at Ron Martin Field in Kapa‘a. It will start in the bottom of the third inning with the score 0-0.
