HILO – The Kona Bronco All-Stars got up too early to let an opportunity go to waste. Whatever sluggishness existed was eventually wiped away by resolve.
Awake at 4:30 a.m., on the road by 5 and in the dugout before 8, Kona’s bats got going a few hours later to break open a seesaw state PONY League opener, and it beat West Oahu 10-6 at Walter Victor Stadium.
“The drive took something out of us, but we finally woke up and played baseball,” coach Jerry Hiraishi said. “Too stressful.”
Hiraishi wasn’t able to exhale until Shaylann Grace, who struck out in her first three plate appearances, golfed a two-run double to cap a five-run six inning.
Up until that point, the teams engaged in a game of leapfrog. Kona’s Bronson Rivera tied the game with a single in the third, and the lead changed hands in each of the next six half-innings.
Rivera hit a solo home run and Isaac Kaku gutted out six innings for Kona, which can sleep later Saturday before it faces Hilo, one of the pretournament favorites, at 3:30 p.m. in the winners bracket of the ages 11-12 tournament. Kona reached states by beating another Hilo team in a sectional.
“What we try to instill in them is that they can play with any team in the state,” Hiraishi said. “It’s just a matter of confidence and them wanting it.”
Eight different players had a hand in Kona’s 10 hits.
Kona didn’t make an error, and West Oahu paid dearly for its first. With two outs and two on and Kona trailing in the sixth, Rivera’s hard-hit grounder was misplayed at second, allowing two runs to score.
“Some of our players got down on themselves, so we just picked them up, progressed as a team and played the game through all the way,” said Rivera, who was hit on the knee with a pitch in the first inning and briefly left the game.
“We just tried to motivate each other.”
Kaku fanned eight and worked around nine walks. At the plate, he had two hits and scored two runs. Kainoa Jones retired the side in order in the seventh with two strikeouts.
West Oahu starter Cody Ranit struck out nine, overpowering Kona before it found its footing.
Benjamin Apilado’s two-run single in the fourth gave Kona a 3-2 lead and it went ahead again in the fifth on Kainoa Doctor’s run-scoring triple. Like clockwork, Kona fell behind again before batting around in the sixth.
“To be honest, I’d rather them hit like that in the first inning,” Hiraishi said. “When it’s back and forth like that, it’s too much excitement.”