Kamehameha wins, advances, 8-4

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Ikena Dupont pitched 6 1/2 scoreless innings of relief as Kamehameha rallied from an early deficit to beat Wai'anae, 8-4, in a controversial quarterfinal of the Wally Yonamine Foundation state baseball tournament last night at Les Murakami Stadium.

Kailua shortstop Michael Kealoha had to dive to beat Mililani's Troy Flores for the force out at second base in the fifth inning of yesterday's quarterfinal game as second baseman Shaun Sasaki looks on. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

Dupont allowed two hits with three strikeouts for the win.

The game started oddly enough with both starting pitchers getting early hooks because of control problems. Wai'anae starter Dane Awana, who pitched three innings using 60 pitches on Wednesday, lasting 1 1/3 innings, facing just 11 batters. He allowed three runs on three hits and four walks.

Meanwhile, Kamehameha starter Zach McAngus faced only nine batters, getting only two outs, as he allowed four runs on one hit and four walks.

While their control problems were ugly, it wasn't as bad as what happened in the top of the fourth inning, when Wai'anae led 4-3.

Tyler Perkins led off with a walk and Keoni Ruth reached safely on an error. After a failed sacrifice attempt by Shannon Kahale forced Perkins out at third. Kahe Santos singled to left to score Ruth and tie the game at 4.

Then came the bizarre events. J.P. Kennedy flied out to center and center fielder Travis Rodrigues threw back to the infield to shortstop Chevy Teves, whose throw back to second was wild, allowing Kahale to score from second with the go-ahead run. On the play, Santos tried to come around third and score, but was caught in a rundown. Catcher Michael Ferreira tagged Santos on the chest for the final out. The two players got into a shoving match and the benches cleared.

The field was cleared, as coaches, umpires and tournament officials discussed the situation.

Ferreira and Santos were ejected and by tournament rules are not eligible to play in today's games.

Also, because the benches cleared, all reserves were forced to stay in the runway behind their respective dugouts the rest of the game. That meant only the players in the lineups were allowed to stay in their dugouts.

Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie regretted the situation.

"We take responsibility for what happened," said Ramie, who added the loss of Santos, the cleanup hitter in the lineup, is big.

"He's been a big part of our offense," Ramie said.

Wai'anae coach Glenn Tokunaga declined comment.

The delay lasted about 20 minutes.

But it didn't end there. The umpires originally ejected the wrong Kamehameha player, as Santos returned to left field in the bottom of the fourth. Only after officials realized the wrong player was ejected was Santos replaced, which was the next inning.

KAMEHAMEHA (16-4) 210 230 0—8 8 2
WAI'ANAE (11-3) 400 000 0—4 3 7

Zach McAngus, Ikena Dupont (1) and Baba Merino. Dane Awana, Calvin Uyechi (2), Cid Moses (4) and Michael Ferreira, Chevy Teves (4). WP-Merino. LP—Moses.

Leading hitters: Kam—Kahe Santos 2-3, triple, 2 RBI; JP Kennedy 2-4. Wai'anae—Calvin Uyechi triple.

• Kailua 5, Mililani 3: It took a bad inning to snap the defending state champion Kailua Surfriders out of an early-game funk.

Kailua batted around in a five-run top of the fifth inning to knock out Mililani in quarterfinal action.

The second-seeded Surfriders (12-3) will meet Mid-Pacific in tonight's 7:30 semifinal.

The Trojans (11-5), who also lost to the Surfriders in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association semifinals, staked Christopher Balatico to an early 2-0 lead. Two errors accounted for the two unearned runs in the Trojans' second. After the inning, coach Corey Ishigo gave them a wakeup call.

"He told us we weren't playing to win," winning pitcher Kaimaile Santos said. "We were playing not to lose. We weren't playing aggressive."

The Surfriders scored only in the fifth, but that was all the right-handed Santos needed. He scattered six hits with two walks, while striking out four in picking up his second win since injuring his throwing wrist in physical education class in midseason.

In the Kailua fifth, Shaun Sasaki led off with a single to right-center, Lawrence Hamocon walked and Jonathan Tabar was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Taleki Mailau blooped a single to right to score one and advance the runners one base. Garrett Yamamoto followed with a two-run single to left, leaving runners at first and second.

With still none out, right fielder Whitney Shimatsu dropped a fly ball by Jarid Kawamoto to reload the bases.Clinton Blackman replaced Balatico, and after striking out Cody Texeira-Vickery, Santos blooped a two-run double to right; on the play, Kawamoto was out trying to score, but the Surfriders had a 5-2 lead.

"The two bloop hits killed us," Mililani coach Cary Kihara said.

KAILUA (12-3) 000 050 0 — 5 8 2
MILILANI (11-4) 020 010 0 — 3 6 3

Kaimaile Santos and Cody Texeira-Vickery. Christopher Balatico, Clinton Blackman (5), Trey Brown (7) and Shawn Saito. WP—Santos. LP—Balatico.

Leading hitters: Kailua—Garrett Yamamoto 3-4; Kaimaile Santos 2-4, double, 2 RBI. Mililani—Justin Amano 2-3; Brian Uranaka double.

• Roosevelt 6, Hilo 5: In a game in which it was better to be lucky than good, the Rough Riders (12-3) overcame four errors, then rallied past the Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Vikings (11-4) in one quarterfinal.

Trailing 5-4, the Rough Riders scored twice in the top of the seventh. Cameron Kimura led off with a triple to right center and held when Chris Mols popped out to shortstop. Kimura tied the game on Blake Isobe's sacrifice fly to right fielder Kaiana Trask, who dropped the ball, allowing Isobe to reach first with the go-ahead run. After Ivan Fujii grounded into a force at second, he stole second and scored on Brandon Loo's ground rule double to right before Brandon Morimoto popped out to short to end the inning.

Hilo tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh. Matthew Hassenritter led off with a single to center, was lifted for courtesy runner Jesse Yoshida, who took second on Trask's sacrifice. After Jaryd Taise struck out, Ikaika Naipo grounded a single to center, but coach Sidney Nozaki held up Yoshida at third on a play that appeared he could have scored.

"My fault," Nozaki said. "It was a coaching mistake."

With runners at the corners, Lamaur Madrid grounded out to the pitcher to end the game.

ROOSEVELT (12-3) 310 000 2 — 6 8 4
HILO (11-4) 010 310 0 — 5 8 2

Cameron Kimura and Brandon Loo. Charles Hassenritter and Matthew Hassenritter. WP—Kimura. LP—C. Hassenritter.

Leading hitters: Roosevelt—Cameron Kimura 2-3, triple, RBI; Blake Isobe 2-3, double, 2 RBI; Ivan Fujii 1-3, RBI, SB; Brandon Loo 2-4, double, 2 RBI. Hilo—Reyn Shimooka 1-3, RBI; Kaiana Trask 2-3; Ikaika Naipo 2-4.

• Mid-Pacific 11, Baldwin 6: Harrison Kuroda pitched six effective innings of relief to lead the Owls into tonight's semifinal against defending champion Kailua in a rematch of last year's title game.

Kuroda came into relieve starter Justin Pate, who allowed three runs in the first inning after the Owls spotted him a 3-0 lead in the top of the first against Baldwin starter Ryan Racadio. Kuroda allowed three runs, one earned, on five hits and five walks.

The third-seeded Bears (14-7) took a 4-3 lead in the second, but the Owls (17-5) batted around in a four-run third inning. All of the runs against Racadio were unearned because of a two-out error in the inning.

MID-PACIFIC (17-5) 304 310 0 — 11 11 3
BALDWIN (14-7) 310 000 2 — 6 10 3

Justin Pate, Harrison Kuroda (2) and Matthew Inouye. Ryan Racadio, Meade Tabata (4) and Meade Tabata., Gered Mochizuki (4). WP—Kuroda. LP-Racadio.

Leading hitters: MPI—Troy Hanzawa 2-5, 2 RBI; Matthew Inouye 1-3, double, RBI; Isaac Omura 2-5, triple, 2 RBI; Ryan Basco 1-3, triple, 2 RBI; Jonathan Hee 3-4, RBI. Baldwin—Chad Nikaido 2-3, Meade Tabata 2-2, 2 walks; Gered Mochizuki 2-3, double, RBI; Royce Miyazono 2-4.

CONSOLATION BRACKET

• MAUI 2, KAPA'A 1: Vance Otake pitched a five-hitter for the Sabers in a consolation bracket game.

KAPA'A (8-8) 000 100 0 — 1 5 2
MAUI (17-5) 100 100 x — 2 4 3

Kai Lopez and Bradley Wakuta. Vance Otake and Gavin Takakura. WP—Otake. LP—Lopez

Leading hitters: Kapa'a—Kaili Panui 2-3; Dustin Mundon 2-3, RBI, double. Maui—Kapena Mathias 2-3, RBI, 2 doubles.

TODAY'S GAMES

Consolation bracket

9:30 a.m.—'Aiea vs. St. Joseph

Noon—Hilo vs. Wai'anae

2:30 p.m.—Baldwin vs. Mililani

Semifinals

5 p.m.—Roosevelt vs. Kamehameha

7:30 p.m.—Kailua vs. Mid-Pacific