KEALAKEKUA — Konawaena hung with defending BIIF Division II champion Kamehameha early, but the Warriors took advantage of a bevy of defensive miscues by the Wildcats, leaving Gabby Inaba Field with a 7-0 victory on a cold and cloudy Wednesday.
“The first few innings showed us a glimpse of who we are and what we can become as a team, but we have to do that for a complete game,” said Konawaena head coach Adam Taberios. “The mental errors and physical errors cost us big. Our execution wasn’t there.”
For the first three innings of league game, both teams remained scoreless as Konawaena’s Shelton Grace and Kamehameha’s Jonah “Malu” Peralta locked arms in a pitcher’s duel.
The Wildcats (1-1) had a chance to get on the board early when they put a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the first inning. Peralta worked out of the jam, forcing a shallow fly-out to right field and a groundout to himself.
On the other side, Grace was nearly untouchable. He allowed only two runners to reach base over a three inning span, both on walks — one in the second inning and the other in the third. Grace faced only one batter over the minimum when the second runner was doubled-up on a line-out to center.
Konawaena put another runner in scoring position in the bottom of the third, when Tyler Kitaoka singled to left and stole second, but he was picked off by Kamehameha catcher DallasJ Duarte.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Wildcat defense began to falter. The first two batters of the inning, Kegan Muira and Baron Victorino, reached on infield errors, putting runners at first and third. Muira scored the first run of the game for the Warriors (1-0) on a Daylen Calicdan sac fly to left. After a single to center by Makana Aiona, a balk brought home Victorino for a 2-0 Kamehameha lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Phillip Grace led off with a single to center. He stole second with one out and attempted to steal third with two outs, but was thrown out by Duarte.
Kamehameha followed with three insurance runs in the top of the fifth. Victorino reached on an error by the third baseman and Muira walked to put two on for Calicdan, who turned on a hanging curveball for a 3-run homer to left.
The Wildcats never adjusted to Peralta on the hill. They went down in order in the bottom of the fifth, sixth and seventh inning. The Warriors added two runs in the top of the seventh off three hits, a sac bunt and an error.
Peralta threw all seven innings to pick up the win. He allowed only two hits and two walks, while striking out five. Kamehameha’s defense committed only one error. Aiona led the offense with three hits and Calicdan followed with two.
“This was a well played game and well pitched on both sides,” said Warriors head coach Andy Correa. “Our pitcher did a good job and kept us in the game, and the defense made the plays they needed to.”
Shelton Grace took the loss. He allowed seven runs, only three earned, off six hits and three walks in seven innings of work. He struck out six.
“Shelton did a good job on the mound and kept the batters off balance for most of the day,” Taberios said. “Kamehameha is a great team and we showed we can battle. If we stay focused we will get better and maybe there will be a different outcome.”
Kamehameha 0 0 0 2 3 0 2 — 7 5 1
Konawaena 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 3 4