Lihu‘e 1, Hanapepe Cubs in Father’s Day showdown

Lihu‘e 1’s Travis Koga was 3-3 with an RBI and scored twice to fuel a 10-0 win over Waimea, Wednesday afternoon.

The win advances Lihu‘e 1 to the finals of the PONY baseball playoffs against the Hanapepe Cubs who squeaked past Kalawai 14-12 in a semifinal match at the Kalawai Park, Wednesday. The final game will take place starting at 10 a.m., Sunday.

Jensen Koga picked up the win on the mound, giving up just two hits, walking one, but hitting two Waimea batters and striking out eight batters. He went the distance in the game-shortened to five innings due to the 10-run ruling.

Waimea had an opportunity to score in the opening inning after two batters were hit by pitches and Chance Taala singled to load the bases with one out.

But a Lihu‘e double play closed the scoring opportunity, and in return, came back to score four runs in the first, added four more in the second before closing the books with two more runs in the fourth frame.

Lihu‘e 1 bats, paced by Travis’s showing in the box, generated six hits.

Lihu‘e 1 demonstrated that it’s not just pitching and hitting that win games as Travis chalked up his first run by capitalizing on a run-down miscue between third base and home in the first frame.

He continued to churn up the Vidinha Stadium dust, barely stopping at first base on his hits to end at second base.

In addition to Travis’ hits, Lihu‘e 1 got a single from shortstop Hank Ibia Jr., an RBI single from Kellen Aquino and a single from Matt Ebueng.

Lihu‘e 1 catcher Austin Oshiro, getting aboard twice on walks and once on a Waimea error, scored all three times on the paths, coming home in the first inning on a Travis RBI, and crossing the plate in the second and fourth innings on Kellen Aquino RBIs.

Hank Ibia Jr., 1-3 in the box, walked in the second and scored on a Waimea error.

Singling in the fourth, Ibia came home after stealing second and on another steal attempt at third base, capitalized on the throwing miscue.