HANAPEPE — A sell-out crowd packed the Hanapepe Softball Stadium for two season ending playoffs including the league title. Dwight Fujii and the Aloha Kia Lihue A’s faced Alan Horikawa’s Rookies to settle a tie for third place. The championship game featured two 22-2 teams in Sia Salausa’s Keonimana Gents and the Ohana Motors Rebels guided by Gary Yates.
The Gents got a walk-off RBI single by Wes Kaui in extra innings to edge the Ohana Motors Rebels, 11-10, and win the 2018 Kauai Senior Softball Championship. The Rookies used the long ball and blasted their way to a 19-15 win.
The Gents had the Rebels throttled through the first six innings, allowing only a two-run home run to Russ McCluskey. The Gents were kept in check for five of the first seven, but a pair of unanswered back-to-back five-run innings in the second and third gave the defending champions a comfortable 10-2 lead and three outs from the win.
With two outs in the top of the seventh, the Rebels strung together nine hits and two walks to tie the game at 10-10. The last ditch rally was sparked with two-RBI singles by Lambert Alapai, Mark Koehler and Larry Rego. The Rebels sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring the eight game-tying runs.
The Gents left two runners on base in the home half of the seventh following a deep drive to the wall in left-center field hauled in by the Rebels to force extra innings tied at 10-10.
In the eighth, the Rebels drew a one-out walk to put runners at first and second. Gents third baseman Billy Corriea speared a line drive to left, holding the runners with the second out. The next Rebel batter sent a ground ball up the middle that was knocked down by shortstop Clifford Furtado. A quick toss to the bag made a close play at second base that was initially ruled to have pulled the defenders foot off the bag and the runner was called safe. The Gents appealed the call, and the chief umpire and base umpire huddled in consultation. After the discussion, the safe call was reversed and the Rebels were out of the inning stranding the runners.
The Gents put Furtado aboard at second base as their potential game-winning base runner. Rebel’s pitcher Myles Yoshida got the first batter out on a fly ball to right-center field,
allowing Furtado to tag and take third. Wes Kaui, who had three hits in the game, wasted no time in drilling an outside pitch into right field to plate the run for an 11-10 victory.
Craig Sogi picks up the win checking the Rebels on 15 hits and shutting them down over the first six innings. Yoshida takes the loss despite holding the Gents scoreless over five of the innings. Both teams will be assigned to the top “A” bracket in the Hawaii State Senior Tournament at the end of the month on Maui.
The morning got started with an encounter between the Rookies and the Aloha Kia Lihue A’s. It turned out to be a hitter’s day with well-placed drives with miscues scattered throughout the field, resulting in both teams trading a pair of five-run innings in a seesaw battle. Horikawa’s Rookies came through with run-scoring drives while holding the A’s threats to a minimum. The Rookies used their massive drives to take the A’s down, 19-15. The Rookies claimed third place in the league standings, and both teams will represent Kauai in the “B” bracket on Maui.
The Hawaii State Senior Softball tournament will be at Maui’s War Memorial Stadium and the Keopuolani and Papohaku Softball Parks. The games open with pool play on July 30 with tournament competition through Aug. 2. West Kauai and Barteks will play in the “C” bracket. Ohana and the Islanders will play in the “D” bracket. Ernie Koerte’s Kawaihau will be in the “E” bracket, and Norman Holt’s East Kauai Legends will take on the “G” bracket. Kuku’s Ace’s round out the Kauai contingent in the “H” bracket.
