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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, May 19, 2006

Silva's 3-hitter helps Castle top No. 1 'Aiea

By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer

WAILUKU, Maui — Glenn Silva fired a three-hitter as Castle upset top-seed 'Aiea, 2-0, in the quarterfinals of Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships last night at Iron Maehara Stadium.

"I just tried my best," said Silva, a 5-foot-8 sophomore right-hander who struck out eight and walked three in his second varsity start. "I just came back from the JV championship for Castle. My defense played a great game, and batting-wise we got our two runs, and that's what we needed to get the win."

Castle advanced to play Punahou in a semifinal today at 5:30 p.m. Kamehameha will meet the winner of last night's late game between Baldwin and Waiakea in the other semifinal. That game ended after this edition's deadline.

It was the second consecutive pitching gem for the Knights, who advanced to the quarterfinals earlier in the day behind Royce Diaz's 1-0 no-hitter against Maui in a first-round game at Maui High School.

"It feels great," Diaz said. "I know a lot of people never thought we would make it this far."

Before the game against Maui, Castle assistant coach Brent Taniguchi collapsed and was rushed to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where he was in the intensive care unit last night. Castle coach Joe Tom was informed that Taniguchi was alert, but was being held at the hospital for observation.

"This has been one unbelievable day," Tom said. "Win or lose — and I hope we win — the kids will never forget it. Their coach (Taniguchi) is very dear to them."

Castle scored both of its runs against 'Aiea in the bottom of the third on Kyle Kanaeholo's run-scoring double and David Mohika's RBI single.

Na Ali'i missed scoring opportunities in the top of the first and the fourth.

In the first inning, with Derek Grace on first and Tripper Chung on third with one out, 'Aiea tried to execute a double steal, but Chung was tagged out in a rundown and Grace moved to third. Silva then struck out the next batter to end the threat.

In the fourth inning, Cody Aquino reached on a leadoff single, and was lifted for courtesy runner Casey Yara, who stole second, and moved to third on an error. Silva then retired the next three batters on a flyout, a groundout and a flyout.

"I played a hunch and went with the young boy," Tom said of Silva, who featured a slider, curve and fastball. "His ball is something they didn't see before. It has unbelievable movement, and sometimes he doesn't know where it's going. But the thing is — he's a gamer. He pitched his heart out."

QUARTERFINALS

PUNAHOU 9, KAMEHAMEHA-HAWAI'I 4

Paul Snieder's three-run triple broke a 2-2 tie in the third inning, and Steven Dannaway hit a three-run homer in the sixth to spark Punahou, which earlier in the day beat Kailua to complete a first-round game that was suspended by rain Wednesday night.

In the second and fourth innings, Kamehameha loaded the bases with two outs, but failed to score against Carl Graves. Graves allowed two runs on eight hits and five walks with two strikeouts in four-plus innings.

"We put a lot of runners on, but we just couldn't cash them in," Kamehameha coach Andy Correa said.

The Warriors took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on back-to-back RBI singles by Trysen Cosier and Makaala Heidenfelt.

Punahou, the two-time defending state champion, rallied for five runs in the bottom of the third inning off Kamehameha starter Aaron Correa, who had not allowed a hit until then.

"Their pitcher is a seasoned veteran," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said of Correa. "We were just fortunate to get some hits and some runs off of him."

Danny Cho led off with a walk, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and after Matt Suiter walked, Bucky Aona hit a run-scoring single, and took second base on the throw. After a wild pitch scored Suiter from third base and moved pinch-runner Evan Bisho to third, Correa walked Dannaway and Jeeter Ishida to load the bases. Snieder followed with his bases-clearing triple to right field.

"I thought bases loaded, one out, I had to get something in the outfield," Snieder said. "I figured I just hit something hard. I got a hanging curveball, and hit it down the line."

In the fifth inning, Kamehameha cut the deficit to 5-3 on Tyson Goo's sacrifice fly.

Punahou erupted for four runs with two outs in the sixth inning, capped by Dannaway's three-run homer to left field.

"We walked too many guys," Kamehameha coach Correa said of his team's nine walks. "When you face a good hitting team, you're going to try to be a little too fine around the plate. The walks killed us."

Kamehameha scored one run in the seventh inning on a two-out, run-scoring single by Andrew Love Jr.

KAMEHAMEHA 4, KAISER 3

Ed Dun doubled in pinch-runner Tyler Hee with the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning as Kamehameha defeated Kaiser in a quarterfinal game last night.

Mitchell Kauweloa drew a leadoff walk off Scott Uehara to start the inning. Hee replaced Kauweloa, and one out later, Dun doubled to right-center field.

"I knew he was trying to throw first-pitch fastballs," Dun said of Uehara. "I was looking for a first-pitch fastball. It came, and I just hit it. Luckily, it went far enough."

It was Dun's first hit of the game, and what he called "probably the biggest hit" of his career.

"Senior year, you leave it all on the field, baby," said Dun, who played first base in the game.

Kaiser scored two runs with two outs in the top of the second inning on run-scoring singles by Alex Talavera and Noel Okuma.

Kamehameha made it 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning on Kauweloa's RBI groundout, but Kaiser responded with Andy Uehara's RBI single in the seventh for a 3-1 lead.

The Warriors tied the score at 3 in the bottom of the seventh, sending the game into extra innings. Scott Uehara, who came in relief of Russel Sasaki with runners on first and third with no outs, walked Aaron Nichols and Waylen Sing Chow to force in a run. After a strikeout, Stuart Kam hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score, but Nichols was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

FIRST ROUND

PUNAHOU 8, KAILUA 4

Bucky Aona batted 3 for 4 with three RBIs, and Punahou defeated Kailua in a first-round game completed yesterday after rain suspended the contest in the fourth inning Wednesday night at Iron Maehara Stadium.

Punahou took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on run-scoring singles by Aona and Paul Snieder, and a sacrifice fly by Zachary Kometani.

Kailua tied it at 3 in the top of the second inning on Pat Murphy's RBI single, a wild pitch and Preston Nakata's run-scoring single.

In the second inning, Danny Cho scored on an error and Aona added an RBI single to put Punahou ahead to stay, 5-3.

CASTLE 1, MAUI 0

Royce Diaz pitched a no-hitter, and Kyle Kaneholo batted 3 for 3 and scored the game's only run as Castle beat Maui in a first-round game yesterday at Maui High.

Castle scored in the bottom of the third when Kaneholo hit a two-out double and came home on a throwing error by the shortstop.

The last Hawai'i high school pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the state tournament was Roosevelt's Chris Mols, who beat Kailua in 2002 in a game shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.

Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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