Kauai High School’s varsity baseball team placed fifth at the Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball Championships – Division II state tournament. The Red Raiders defeated Molokai of the Maui Interscholastic League, 2-0, in the tournament’s fifth-place game Friday afternoon at Francis
Kauai High School’s varsity baseball team placed fifth at the Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball Championships – Division II state tournament.
The Red Raiders defeated Molokai of the Maui Interscholastic League, 2-0, in the tournament’s fifth-place game Friday afternoon at Francis Wong Stadium in Hilo.
“It’s all good. You always want to win the first game, but it didn’t work out like that. But overall, they did good,” Kauai High head coach Hank Ibia said in a phone interview Saturday. “I got everybody to play today. So, that was nice.”
Kauai High scored both its runs in the second inning. Second baseman Doug Miyasato hit an RBI triple to left field. First baseman Sam Nataka, who drew a hit by pitch to get base, scored on Miyasato’s hit.
Two at bats later, left fielder Royce Uemura hit an RBI double to right field. Miyasato scored on the play.
“We got some hits. We had four,” Ibia said. “They had a good pitcher on the mound. We had some chances with a man on base, but we didn’t cash in. But the 2-0 lead held out, so it’s all good.”
Molokai had a chance to score in the fourth inning. With a runner on third base, Farmers shortstop Kekaiomalu Adachi lined out to second base to end the inning.
Kauai High got its two runs off four hits and left four runners on base. Red Raiders’ Robin Dumlao was the winning pitcher. He came in relief in the fourth inning and allowed four hits and a walk, and stuck out one batter through the seventh inning.
Red Raiders starting pitcher Blaise Gokan threw the first three innings for Kauai, walked three batters but didn’t allow a hit.
“They did good, both of them. They threw a lot of strikes, and we played defense,” Ibia said of his pitchers. “All in all, it worked out well for both those pitchers.”
Molokai had four hits and left six runners on in the fifth-place game. Levi Horner-Villa was the losing pitcher, allowing two runs off four hits, walked two and struck out four in 5 1/3 innings of work.
Kauai High finishes its season with a 13-2 overall record, going 11-1 in the Kauai Interscholastic Federation season and 2-1 at the Division II tournament.
“It’s OK. We just got to get better next year. We made it this far, but we had to take care of business first,” Ibia said. “Getting here was fine. The kids had a great season. I’m pretty much happy with the whole deal. They’re a great bunch of kids.”
He added that although the team had hoped to reach the championship game, it still was a good season.
“When you’re No. 2, you have expectations. Everybody had big dreams, like me. It didn’t work out,” the Red Raiders coach said. “But all said and done, the kids worked hard. They’re great kids. To my seniors, they’re going to do well in the future.”
Saint Francis of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu placed third in the tournament, defeating Radford of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, 12-1.
Kamehameha Schools – Hawaii of the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Kapolei of the OIA played in the Division II championship game Saturday in Hilo. Results were not available by press time.
Statistics from Hawaii High School Athletic Association.
