HANAPEPE — West Kauai’s Tysson Unciano received the ball back from his catcher knowing his team was one strike away from advancing to the PONY Mustang Regional tournament. To that point, Unciano had gone 5 and 2⁄3 innings, but then
HANAPEPE — West Kauai’s Tysson Unciano received the ball back from his catcher knowing his team was one strike away from advancing to the PONY Mustang Regional tournament.
To that point, Unciano had gone 5 and 2⁄3 innings, but then proceeded to walk two straight before arriving at a one ball, two strike count against Lihue’s Brandson Hirokane.
Unciano would come set with the sound of his teammates and coaches urging the young right hander to keep battling.
Unciano would deliver to the plate and deliver West Kauai its sweep with a strike out and a 6-1 win over Lihue Thursday at Hanapepe Soto Field for the right to represent Kauai at the 2013 Protect Our Nation’s Youth Mustang Regional Tournament in Hilo.
Unciano pitched a complete game for West Kauai while striking out five Lihue batters and scattering four hits for one run.
West Kauai also got help at the plate. Degan Davis did the bulk of the damage going 3 for 3 with a pair of singles and a double for 4 RBIs. Kanaan Ephan added to the effort with a 2 for 3 game, with an RBI.
The game began with Lihue taking 1-0 lead in the top of the first with an RBI double off of the bat of Stetson Telles-Kelekoma, which scored Rickey Ralston the only run West Kauai would allow.
West Kauai answered in the bottom of the inning with two-run single from Davis, which scored Ephan and Sean Mullikin. The single gave West Kauai the 2-1 lead.
Mullikin played the role of table-setter for West Kauai in the lead-off spot. Mullikin got on base in all three of his at bats and scored all three times. To go along with his prowess at the plate, Mullikin also played stellar defense at the shortstop position, often ranging far to his left or right to come up with balls that may have been hits otherwise.
The game remained close at 2-1 until the bottom of the third. Mullikin led the inning of with a single to center field, which eventually was followed up by another Davis RBI single. Tevin Shigematsu followed that with a single of his own, which scored Davis to give West Kauai the 4-1 lead.
For good measure, West Kauai would add two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. This time it was Davis and Ephan combining for a pair of singles and 2 RBIs. West Kauai now owned a 6-1 lead, which it would hold on to for the win and sweep.
With the victory, West Kauai will now practice and prepare for its bid for the regional tournament championship. The tournament will be held from June 28 to July 2 at Walter Victor Baseball Complex in Hilo and will include eight teams including West Kauai. The winner of the regional tournament will move on to play in the PONY Mustang West Zone Tournament in Los Alamitos, Calif.
