KAPA‘A — Mason Arasato finished 2-4 and had a solo in-the-park home run to help fuel Kailua to an 8-2 win over the Kaneohe American all-stars yesterday. Arasato’s ITP homer deflated the Americans’ spirit when their rightfielder was injured on
KAPA‘A — Mason Arasato finished 2-4 and had a solo in-the-park home run to help fuel Kailua to an 8-2 win over the Kaneohe American all-stars yesterday.
Arasato’s ITP homer deflated the Americans’ spirit when their rightfielder was injured on the play while running to tag the long ball in the fourth inning.
But following a discussion with tournament officials, the run counted and the injured Kaneohe blackshirt returned to the dugout after being checked out by off-duty firemen who were part of the Kaneohe parent contingent.
Kailua marked in all but the opening inning, piling up 7 hits while its pitcher, Jacob Cobb-Adams went his full 85 pitches. That took him to two outs in the sixth when Chaz Inouye went in to finish.
In his tenure, Cobb-Adams held the Kaneohe Americans to two runs on just three hits that came in the second inning when the blackshirts could not capitalize on the hits. He also struck out five batters while walking three.
With two outs, Matt Kishaba, Braxton Kihara and Tanner Oshiro came up with three straight singles, but the Americans couldn’t drive a run in as a fielder’s choice play ended the threat.
The Americans opened the scorebooks in the fourth inning when Kihara, getting first on a Kailua error, scored on a Kailua passed ball.
Kishaba, beating the throw to first, marked the Americans’ second run in the sixth on a Chaz Shizumura hit that was mishandled by the shortstop.
Following Arasato, Racelen Nakazawa (2-4) had a double and a single with two RBI coming in on his fifth inning single. Nakazawa also scored in the fourth on a Weston Paul RBI single, his second of the day. Niklas Ajifu (1-5) scored twice.
With the win, Kailua advances to face Kainalu this afternoon starting at 4 p.m. at the main diamond in Kapa‘a. The winner of that contest will face the Kaneohe Nationals for the tournament championship Wednesday starting at 4 p.m.
