KAPAA — Offensive production was the focus for the Red Raiders leading up to the championship game and it paid off. Kauai High School’s baseball team defeated Kapaa 5-1 to claim the Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship on Saturday at Kapaa
KAPAA — Offensive production was the focus for the Red Raiders leading up to the championship game and it paid off.
Kauai High School’s baseball team defeated Kapaa 5-1 to claim the Kauai Interscholastic Federation championship on Saturday at Kapaa High School.
“They were really focused today. I don’t think they were going to be denied, whoever they were playing,” said Kauai head coach Greg Killeen. “Came out and executed what exactly we were trying to do all week. My hats off to the kids. The boys did a great job.”
First baseman Nick Vallatini got Kauai’s offense on the board with a sacrifice bunt to get courtesy runner Gunner Vallatini across home plate during the top of the second inning.
Starting pitcher Cal Koga hit an RBI single in the following inning to give Kauai an early 2-0 lead.
The Red Raiders (9-3 regular season, 4-2 second round) then scored two more runs in the fifth inning en route to winning the title match.
“We figured with their lefty (Kapaa starting pitcher Nick Tabura), he likes to stay away. So we were looking at that outer zone,” Killeen said. “That was big.”
Koga pitched a complete game for Kauai. He had four strike outs and allowed four hits and one earned run in seven innings.
“I felt kind of tired, but my defense helped me out a lot,” the Red Raiders pitcher said. “(My teammates) made all these plays. These guys, Kapaa, they can hit. My team, man, they’re awesome.
“I felt like we were ready from the beginning. Second round, I though that we had them but just didn’t execute on some plays … Today, we executed and did well. Our team came clutch,” Koga added.
Kapaa (6-6 regular season, 5-1 second round) made crucial errors on defense that allowed Kauai to either score runs or advance runners into scoring position.
“I wish we didn’t have as much mistakes that we did have. That cost us the game pretty much,” said Kapaa head coach Bryan Aiwohi. “Just bad throws, wrong reads and wrong decisions. Some base running errors early that hurt us. Missed signals. All the stuff that causes you to lose.
“Kauai High, hats off to them. They took advantage of every one of our mistakes,” he added.
First baseman Rashaan “Turtle” Kuhaulua scored Kapaa’s only run during the bottom of the sixth inning from a Kauai error.
“It just hurts that the season is over,” Kuhaulua said. “We didn’t come prepared. They did … We just weren’t on our A game.”
After the loss, Aiwohi said he told his players they should be proud for getting themselves in position to win the league title after struggling in the first round of the season.
“That was a huge accomplishment on our part. I praised the boys for that,” he said.
Kauai will fly to Oahu for the Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II state tournament which begins on May 14.
“I don’t think there’s anybody that’s a league champion that’s going to be a slouch. We’re going to have to go ready to play,” Killeen said. “I feel good about our club going over there. I think we’ll do a good job.”
