Hilo Red coach Calavin Crum wasted little time in complying with the Little League rule that each of his 14 players must get one plate appearance.
He substituted players in and he shuffled others out on his ages 9-10 baseball team and more often than not he had a chance to wave them home.
Hilo collected 14 hits Friday and scored in five of six innings to knock off North Hawaii 13-4 in Day 1 of the District 4 tournament at Keaukaha field.
“The bats were good today and that was the thing that was lacking in the scrimmages before this,” Crum said. “Defense was always good, pitching was always good. It was just the bats that never did wake up. Today they did, and we were happy with that.”
Hiapo Ugalde was one of four Hilo players who got to play the whole game, and he responded with a 3-for-4 day at the plate, driving in four runs. Kryston Chartrand posted a pair of run-scoring singles and Tehani Chinen and Daeson Cacho each had two hits with a run batted in.
Crum called his Ugalde, his nephew, “hit or miss sometimes.”
“But he came out today and that was awesome,” he said.
Ugalde singled to right as Hilo scored five runs in the top of the first, he hit a ball down the third base line for an RBI in the fourth as Hilo tacked on three more runs, and his single in the fifth plated two during another three-run rally.
“They were pitching it right down the middle,” Ugalde said. “You just need good timing. We all worked together and stayed focused.”
Dreyston Saltiban pitched three score scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts for the Hilo Red. They won’t play again until Sunday against the winner of Saturday’s game between Westside and Hilo Blue at the double-elimination tournament, which moves to Walter Victor Stadium along with District 4 Majors (11-12).
In the early game Friday, Westside beat Hamakua 17-0. North Hawaii and Hamakua will play an elimination game Saturday.
Ugalde said he wasn’t necessarily looking ahead to an all-Hilo matchup Sunday.
“I don’t really care who we play,” he said. “As long as we all work together we’re all good.”
Saltiban pitches for Crum during the season with Keaukaha, but he didn’t get the start because he recently missed practices with an excused absence as he watched his brother, Devin, win a state PONY title on Oahu with the Hilo Broncos.
With Saltiban away, Crum said the team found another ace in Nixis Yamauchi, who started and pitched and inning along with Danny Weber and Kyler Tamura.
“If we play the way we did today, thresh hold like we have to thresh hold, we should be all right,” Crum said.
North Hawaii starter Isaac Derego struggled with his command as Hilo batted around in the first inning, but he struck out the side in the second and third and fanned seven.
Esais Hook and Hurley Soong each finished with two hits and an RBI, and Derego lined a double.
West Side 17, Hamakua 0
Kainea Lorenzo and Armenia Blanco finished with three hits apiece and Tate Garana and Ke’ale Blas each had two to back winning pitcher Kam Root, who helped his cause with two doubles.
Diezel Gabriel was the losing pitcher.
Juniors
North Hawaii pulled out of the district tournament for ages 13-14, giving an automatic state tournament berth to West Side. The teams were to play a best-of-three series.