The bats continued to bang for Konawaena on Monday as the Wildcats made quick work of visiting Kohala at Gabby Inaba Field. Konawaena defeated the Cowboys 11-0 in a mercy shortened five inning game, compiling 12 hits, led by cleanup hitter Vohn Yamaguchi
Yamaguchi was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored. He had one extra base hit, while also swiping two bases.
“Big day for him, said Konawaena head coach Adam Tabieros. “He is seeing the ball well and is one of our key hitters. Every time he comes up he is confident something good is going to happen.”
Leadoff hitter Andrew Udac and middle of the order batter Kanai Rivera also picked up multiple hits, showing that Konawaena batters can hit up and down the lineup.
“We hit and I won’t take anything away from them for that,” Tabieros said. “But we need to hit in the clutch more. We had a bunch of LOBs (left on base) but we are working on it.”
AJ Allred picked up the victory on the hill. Allred started the game, throwing two innings, while allowing one hit and walking one. He also struck out a batter. Boaz Ayers entered in relief in the third inning, throwing the final three innings. He allowed one hit and struck out two.
“The pitchers are pitching to contact and keeping hitters off balance,” Tabieros said. “We are not allowing the free pass, something that haunted us last year.”
Konawaena wasted little time getting on the board, posting four runs in the bottom of the first inning. Udac and Kalya Leleiwi opened the inning with a pair of singles and advanced a base on a groundout. Yamaguchi followed with a double to left, scoring both runners.
Austin Ewing beat out an infield single and Kanai Rivera singled to center, bringing Yamaguchi home. Ewing worked his way around to third and then scored on a wild pitch.
In the bottom of the second inning, Udac had a one-out double and Leleiwi reached on an error. Udac then scored on a sac fly by Kolu Alani. A single by Yamaguchi brought Leleiwi home for a 6-0 lead.
After being shut down in the third inning, the Wildcats added five more runs in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
With one out, Yamaguchi singled and stole second. He advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a Rivera single. After a double to left by Jake Basque, a single by Brennan Ka‘awa brought in the second run of the inning.
Allred reached on an error, bringing in another run and Stevie Texeira singled, scoring the 10th and 11th runs of the game.
“This was a good game,” Tabieros said. “We are limiting the errors and doing the things we need to do.
Hilo 7, Kealakehe 0
Toa Barclay, Briden Silva and Ocean Gabonia combined to hold the Waveriders to three hits at Wong Stadium, and Nick Antony was 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI single for the Vikings, who have allowed one run in going 3-0.
Hilo collected 13 hits. Pu’ukani De Sa was 2-for-3, including a run-scoring double, and Stone Miyao and Joey Jarneski each finished with two hits.
Aiden AhHee was the losing pitcher for Kealakehe (1-2), allowing nime hits and six runs – four earned – and two walks in three innings.
Barclay went four innings, scattering two hits amd two walks. Silva struck out two in one inning, allowing a hit, and Gabonia pitched two spotless innings.