LIHUE — There is still plenty of baseball to be played. The Kauai Interscholastic Federation season’s second round will begin Saturday when Kapaa (3-3 KIF) will host Waimea for two games. The first will begin at 10 a.m. “Basically, we’ve been
LIHUE — There is still plenty of baseball to be played.
The Kauai Interscholastic Federation season’s second round will begin Saturday when Kapaa (3-3 KIF) will host Waimea for two games. The first will begin at 10 a.m.
“Basically, we’ve been working on doubling down on the basics,” said Kapaa head coach Bryan Aiwohi. “Just correcting our mistakes — the defensive errors and the base running errors.”
The Warriors coach added his team must improve on hitting to give itself a chance at winning the second round. The team did just that last Saturday in a 9-2 win over Kauai High at Vidinha Stadium, and Aiwohi hopes his players can build off that performance.
“When they walk up to the plate, they got to have a plan,” he said. “We want them to study the pitchers, watch what happened with the previous batter and get a better idea of what they’re going to face.”
For Waimea (2-4 KIF), head coach Larry Ephan believes all three teams are equal and are on a new slate come Saturday.
“Going into the next round, it’s a matter of feeling out each other. It’s going to come down to whoever makes the least amount of mistakes,” Ephan said. “I have a bunch of resilient kids. They’re starting to trust themselves, and the pitching came a long way in the second round. I think that will keep us in games.”
“It’s going to be a great round. It’s going to be some exciting baseball,” he added. “As far as (who has the edge), I don’t think there’s any. Anybody can win it on any day.”
As for first round winner Kauai High (4-2 KIF), the Red Raiders will start their second round at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Hanapepe Stadium against Waimea.
“Everybody was competitive. Everybody had good pitching. The second round should be very interesting,” said Red Raiders head coach Hank Ibia. “Hitting the ball more would help us. On the competitive side, I think all three teams (did well.)”
“If we can put some hits together, we can score more runs,” he added. “Overall, if we hit, and we play a little defense here and there, we’ll be OK.”
