Manzano lifts Konawaena past HPA

KEALAKEKUA — Konawaena’s Kileona Manzano figured Hawaii Prep wanted a victory in the worst kind of way Thursday at Gabby Inaba Field.

After all, the Wildcats’ baseball team defeated Ka Makani three times last season, including a dramatic 15-14 win in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation Division II championship game.

If HPA did aim for revenge, Konawaena made Ka Makani wait a little longer for it thanks in large part to Manzano and Wildcats junior pitcher Jarrett Kitaoka.

Manzano’s run-scoring triple with two outs in the bottom of the sixth broke a 1-1 tie, while Kitaoka helped himself at the plate with two RBI singles as Konawaena beat HPA 3-1 in a classic pitcher’s duel.

“I feel like we wanted it a little more than they did,” Manzano said. “I wanted to win this game just as badly as they did.”

Tough-luck HPA loser Jayse Bannister retired the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth. But senior third baseman Makana Canda extended the inning for Konawaena (3-0) by drawing a walk.

Bannister got ahead of Manzano, but Konawaena’s left-handed hitter blooped a 1-2 pitch into left field, where Ka Makani’s Mike Nakahara charged in and tried to make a spectacular diving catch. But the ball fell in, bouncing past Nakahara for the second of Manzano’s two triples.

Bannister, who gave up just five hits and two walks in a complete-game effort, struck out Manzano on a curveball in the first inning. The Konawaena junior expected another one in the sixth inning, but Bannister surprised him with a fastball.

“I was just trying to fight it off,” Manzano said.

That’s exactly what Kitaoka did in the bottom of the fourth, when his first RBI tied the game.

With two outs, Manzano drilled one of Bannister’s few hitable pitches into the right-center-field gap for the first of his two triples. Kitaoka then cued a Bannister pitch on the outside corner off the end of his bat, dropping it just in front of HPA right fielder Ian Rice to plate Manzano.

Kitaoka also lined a single up the middle in the sixth inning, chasing home Manzano and capping the scoring.

“(Konawaena) just came up with the timely hits,” HPA manager Jordan Hayslip said.

Before Manzano’s fourth-inning triple, Bannister hadn’t given up a hit. He showed pinpoint control, consistently locating a sharp-breaking curveball at the knees on the outside corner.

As a result, he faced just three three-ball counts.

Manzano said Bannister’s effective curveball made his fastball more difficult to hit.

“We didn’t get too many chances with those fastballs to hit because when he did come with them, we actually fouled them off,” Manzano said. “So he would keep us off-balance with his curveball, and he’s a hell of a pitcher.”

Like Bannister, Kitaoka also displayed a good curveball, and he mixed in a effective change-up to limit Ka Makani (3-1) to three hits. He struck out three and walked five.

However, the junior right-hander issued four of his five walks and allowed two hits during the first four innings, which got him into trouble.

Nakahara gave HPA a 1-0 lead in the second inning with an RBI double down the left-field line that plated Rice, who started the inning with a walk.

However, Kitaoka retired the next three batters, stranding Nakahara in scoring position.

The Wildcats’ defense made life easier for Kitaoka in the other three innings.

Bannister led off the first with a single, but sophomore catcher Evyn Yamaguchi promptly gunned down courtesy runner D.J. Sekiya on a stolen base attempt.

With runners on first and third and one out in the second, sophomore second baseman Royce Torres-Torioka fielded a grounder by senior Holden Pattengill, tagged out HPA’s Koa Ellis while the freshman was running from first to second and threw to first to complete a double play.

Torres-Torioka’s brother, Ryan, robbed HPA’s Kama DeSilva of a hit with a runner on first and one out in the fourth, ranging far to his right at shortstop to make a spectacular diving stop before forcing out Nakahara at second.

Kitaoka said he tried to overthrow the ball early in the game, which led to flawed mechanics on the mound.

But he settled in after Ryan Torres-Torioka’s stellar play, retiring 10 of the last 12 batters he faced.

“I was kind of herky-jerky,” Kitaoka said. “I just had to go back and be more smooth.”

HPA threatened to score in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out.

But Canda ended the game by turning a double play on a grounder by Koa Ellis, touching the bag at third to force out Zane Gray before throwing Ellis out at first.

Kitaoka attributed the Wildcats’ strong showing in close games — Konawaena also defeated Honokaa 8-7 in a 12-inning contest earlier in the season — to the team’s “heart” and determination.

“It’s just that we never give up,” he said.

Hawaii Prep 010 000 0 — 1 3 0

Konawaena 000 102 0 — 3 5 0

c Waiakea 16, Ka’u 0: Dean Hosaka ripped a three-run triple, and Kodi Medeiros also collected three RBIs for the Warriors (3-0), who began a busy week with a game that ended after five innings because of the league’s 10-run mercy rule.

Robbey Meguro struck out three over three innings and yielded just one hit to pick up the win for Waiakea, which has games the next two days at Wong Stadium.

At 6 p.m. today, the Warriors host Kamehameha-Hawaii before playing Hilo as the visiting team at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Davy Camacho (two RBIs) and Kean Wong were each 2-for-3, and Tyler Ishimoto and Alika Guillermo drove in two runs apiece for the Warriors.

Kylen Uyeda followed Meguro with two hitless innings, striking out two.

Daellan Kai took the loss for the Trojans (1-3).

Ka‘u 000 00 — 0 1 4

Waiakea 308 5X — 16 12 0

c Kamehameha 7, Keaau 0: Kupono Decker pitched a five-hit shutout, striking out 10 batters as the host Warriors improved to 2-1.

Bronson Pulgados had a two-run single, while Kaimana Moike, Nainoa Hart and Keanu Dudoit-Isa each added RBI hits as Kamehameha struck for six runs in the bottom of the first inning against Cougars starter Maleko Remlinger.

The uprising proved more than enough for Decker.

The junior right-hander threw 72 of his 110 pitches for strikes and walked only one batter.

Moike and Hart both went 2-for-3.

Traysyn Waltjen was 2-for-3 for Keaau (1-3).

Remlinger settled down after the bumpy first and pitched six innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits.

He walked two and struck out three.

Keaau 000 000 0 — 0 5 2

KS-Hawaii 600 001 x — 7 6 1

c Honokaa 9, Kohala 2: Coming on in relief of senior Makani Dias, senior Lloyd Edwards gave up just one hit and struck out 10 in 4 1/3 scoreless innings to get the win for the host Dragons (1-2).

Edwards walked just one batter.

Both Dias and senior Joey Charbonneau went 2-for-3 at the plate, with Dias highlighting Honokaa’s four-run first inning with a two-run double.

Charbonneau stole two bases and laced an RBI double in the Dragons’ two-run fifth inning, which gave Honokaa a 6-2 advantage.

Sophomore Ricky Ching, who gave up just five hits and one walk while pitching a complete game, took the loss for the Cowboys (0-3). He struck out three batters.

Kohala 020 000 0 — 2 5 5

Honokaa 400 023 x — 9 5 0

c Hilo 17, Pahoa 0: Sophomore Conrad Kauffman threw four shutout innings to earn the win for the Vikings (4-0) at Wong Stadium, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out six.

The Vikings scored 11 runs on seven hits in the first inning before Hilo manager Tony DeSa emptied his bench in the second inning. Senior Koa Matson went 2-for-2, highlighting the 11-run first inning with a two-run double.

Julian Agnese, who pitched four innings for Pahoa (0-4), took the loss.

He gave up 15 hits and seven walks, striking out three.

Agnese had the Daggers’ lone hit, lining a single up the middle in the fourth inning.

Hilo (11)03 12 — 17 18 1

Pahoa 000 00 — 0 1 9