‘ELE’ELE — The Kaua’i Senior Softball League took advantage of perfect weather to get a full slate of games to shake up the standings.
A morning of show-stopping feature games took place in the Plumeria lined Ele’ele Park, and four games scheduled on the all-grass gardens at the Wailua Houselots.
There were tight games with exciting finishes.
Gents continue the assault on league standings
On a beautiful sunlight morning, the Keonimana Gents continued their assault on the league standing keeping their undefeated win-streak intact. The Gents were assigned home teams on West Kauai’s turf and treated it like their own shutting down their opponents.
As hard as they could try, West Kaua‘i could not make it past the top of the fifth inning. Keonimana found lots of room to generate hits and rolled to their eleventh victory behind the 20-0 five-inning shutout.
The Rookies claim second-place with win over Barteks
The big showdown for second place finally took the field with the Rookies squaring off with Barteks.
Both teams lost one game so far through the season, and the winner will have a second place to themselves. Shapa Ramos had the Barteks on a consecutive winning streak going back to the early part of the year. Alana Horikawa’s Rookies sailed through the competition until getting knocked off by the Gents for their lone loss.
The Rookies turned to their power-hitting at the right time to climb into the lead. Barteks was unable to string together their normal clutch hitting and struggled to produce runs.
The Rookies (10-1) stand-alone in second place behind a tight 9-4 victory.
The morning concluded with an exciting encounter that kept the fans stretched around the ballpark.
Lihue A’s topple Ohana
The Aloha Kia Lihue A’s faced Tony Rapozo’s Ohana in a game that went down to the wire. Dwight Fujii always has the A’s prepared for tight match-ups, and the competition with Ohana fits the description with a one-run finish. The A’s found success at the plate driving in seven runs.
Ohana hit well and held the lead going into the bottom of the seventh. Ohana finished the game holding off the Aloha Kia Lihue A’s to capture an 8-7 thriller. The victory helped Ohana (6-5) climb into sixth-place the league standings. The A’s are a game ahead in fifth-inning at 7-4.
Da Kruzers edge Houselots
Da Kruzers opened the games at the Wailua Houselots with a tight battle with the East Kaua‘i Legends. Duane Girard’s Kruzers had a good day at the plate with several rallies that kept the game close. The Legends were able to come up with the big bats to keep the see-saw battle lasting seven innings. The Legends carved out a lead and held off the late-inning charge of Da Kruzers, leaving the tying and winning runs stranded on the bases for a thrilling 14 – 13 victory.
Kawaihau top Solid Steel
Kawaihau and Solid Steel kept the ballpark on edge with another slugfest. Tom Christy got the Steel sticks into scoring mode and returned to their hard-hitting.
Derek Rapozo has Kawaihau just off the league-leading teams and continued with their second season momentum using the long ball to pull ahead in the late innings. Kawaihau proved too much down the stretch keeping Solid Steel at bay for their sixth win of the round for a 12-8 victory.
Islanders register another victory
Joe Bertucci’s Islanders captured another victory, this time because of a forfeit game. They were set to take on Hanamaulu in the third game of the morning. Peter Rayno ended up short-handed guiding the Hillsiders. They lost many players in the last game and, with a depleted roster, and could not field a full squad resulting in a 1-0 forfeit.
Ohana hitting barrage too much for Aces
Kuku’s Aces battled the Ohana Motors Rebels over seven innings in the morning finale before falling. Ace’s starting pitcher Mamo Shimatsu checked the Rebels on two runs over the first run through the line-up. Rebels starter Myles Yoshida worked on a one-hitter into the fifth. The right-hander blanked the Aces with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Tommy Baptista drilled a line drive into a right to knock in a run and break up the shut out.
After a slow start, the Rebels went to work with a 28-hit attack rallying for three five-run innings to post an 18-1 win.
On Deck
With two games left on the schedule, the Senior Softball teams head to Hanamaulu and Hanapepe. The Pat Baniaga Softball Stadium will have a long day with four big contests on tap. Three games will make up the schedule at the Peter Rayno Softball Park.
Bartek’s opens the early morning in Hanapepe, taking on West Kaua‘i. The East Kaua‘i Legends will cross the island to go up against the Rookies. Ohana looks to extend their win streak tackling Kuku’s Aces in the late morning contest. The day will conclude with the Aloha Kia Lihue A’s trying to derail the Keonimana Gents.
In Hanamaulu, the Hillsiders will host Kawaihau in the sunrise game. Solid Steel and Da Kruzers will go at it in the mid-morning feature. And the games end with the Ohana Motors Rebels take on the Islanders.
A pair of games remain on the schedule, and the Keonimana Gents will claim a share of the league title with another win to add to their 11-0 record.
The Rookies, 10-1, hopes to keep on their heels.
Bartek’s and the Ohana Motors Rebels are tied at 9-2.
The Aloha Kia Lihue A’s stand alone in fifth with a 7-4 record. Kawaihau and Ohana are knotted at 6-5.
The Islanders are in the middle of the pack standing at 5-6. The East Kaua‘i Legends and Solid Steel are moving in opposite directions with 4-7 records coming down to the wire. Da Kruzers come in at 3 and 8 followed by the Hanamaulu Hillsiders, Kuku’s Aces, and West Kaua‘i with a win each.
