LIHU‘E — The Waimea High Menehune pushed a run in the eighth inning Saturday to close a winning weekend, 5-1 and 2-1, against the Kapa‘a High Warriors at the Cook Field adjacent to the Menehune campus in Waimea.
Over at Vidinha Stadium in Lihu‘e, the Island School Voyagers unveiled its first-ever baseball team in action against Kaua‘i High, with an afternoon game and night contest under the lights.
With the assistance of scoringlive.com, the Voyagers’ new team suffered an opening game loss, 11-0, and pushed its first runs across in the second meeting, which the Voyagers dropped to the Red Raiders, 12-3.
Makoa Chong and Blake Braun had the Voyager honor of getting hits in the afternoon opener, where Kaua‘i High pitcher Max Wexler held Island School to just those two hits while striking out 10 and walking just one batter in the 10-run-rule game shortened to five innings.
Kameron Lee suffered the loss for Island School with 11 earned runs and 12 hits allowed while striking out two and walking three.
Tresten Shigematsu threw a two-hitter against Kapa‘a in the Menehune home opener, hurling 80 pitches with a run allowed on two hits. He struck out 12 batters while walking one Warrior in picking up the 5-1 victory.
Kapa‘a batters getting the hits were Kelcie Kimura-Masada and Chysen Manintin.
Kade Erdman led the Menehune bats, who collected just three hits for the five runs. Erdman batted in four runners on his RBI bang. Noah Delanoza and senior Bronze DeCosta picked up the other two Waimea hits in the first game, DeCosta getting credit for an RBI.
In the Cook Field nightcap, both Waimea and Kapa‘a looked at a 1-1 deadlock following seven complete innings. Zyden Vea got aboard on a walk and scored the winning run on a Tyson Haumea triple, Haumea’s only hit on the day, in the eighth inning.
Back in Lihu‘e, Kaiyan Shigematsu picked up the second Kaua‘i High win on the hill, scattering three runs on three allowed Voyager hits through six innings of work. During his tenure on the mound, Shigematsu walked three Voyager hitters and struck out 12 hitters.
Kapono Sullivan shared the loss with Braun on the Voyager mound, both hurlers allowing six runs each.
Wailele Kane-Yates had the hot bat for the Raiders, finishing with two hits and an RBI. Austin Renaud followed with a hit and two RBI. Mea Inouye, AJ Arruda and Aukai Arruda also pushed runs across the plate.
Chong topped the Voyager hitters with a double and two RBI.
The next KIF baseball outing is Saturday, when Waimea comes to visit Vidinha Stadium and the Red Raiders in a 3 p.m. twin bill. The Voyagers make the trip to the Ron Martin Field, where they face Kapa‘a, starting at 10 a.m.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
