It was going to be an early wake-up call either way, but Hilo coach Shon Malani left little to chance, showing up at 6:15 a.m. Saturday for his All-Star team’s pivotal game at the state PONY League tournament.
With the extra preparation time came a premonition. Malani expected trouble against Kauai, but as the Hilo Pony 13s started serving the ball to all corners of Walter Victor complex and Shane Sale-Silva racked up strikeouts, his forewarning became a distant memory.
“I had a feeling something was in the making, and I prepared them,” Malani said after Hilo turned an early three-run deficit into a 13-6 victory to take command of the four-team, double-elimination field. “Adversity is good for these kids. A lot of them are new faces for me. I wanted to see how they would react.”
They acted like they’re more than comfortable at this stage, and after a second win in as many days Hilo gets a day off before returning Monday with two chances to win the championship against the survivor of the loser’s bracket.
“We can’t be too confident,” said Sale-Silva, who struck out nine in five innings, “but I am confident that we are going to win.”
Every starter in the lineup contributed to Hilo’s 15-hit onslaught, whether it be Brayden Malani (2 for 4) at the top or Isaiah Justo (3 for 4) at the bottom.
Sale-Silva’s two-run double in the third put Hilo ahead and Kaohu Kawelu hit a two-run double down the right field line in the fourth after Kolten McCallum and Justo opened the inning with singles. Justo drove in two runs, and Legend Lancaster, Dominic Christensen and Sale-Silva had two hits apiece. Journey Leialoha sparked a two-run rally in the seventh with a double.
“I had no doubts that we were going to hit,” Sale-Silva said.
Hilo scored in every inning but the first, when it didn’t look like it was going to be its day.
Kauai struck for three runs in the bottom half of the inning on a combination of soft singles, a walk and an error, but Sale-Silva found his zone, only running into trouble again in the fourth, when he wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam by inducing a comebacker.
“Once he caught his groove, the kid has a really special arm,” Shon Malani said. “It’s just a matter of steering him.”
Edinn Kitagawa pitched the sixth, allowing a run, and Loren Iwata struck out the side in the seventh.
Xailer Duarte had three hits for Kauai, which beat Mililani 13-2 on Friday and will play the Central Oahu team again Sunday for a spot opposite Hilo in the final. In an elimination game Saturday, Mililani edged Aiea 5-4.
Sale-Silva isn’t eligible to pitch again, but Malani can use McCallum, Friday’s starter in a 12-0 win against Kauai, and Kawelu, the team’s closer, hasn’t pitched yet.
“The pieces we picked up this year, I really see potential, especially the arms,” said Malani, who has guided Hilo teams to state PONY titles in all manner of age groups (11, 9s, 8-under).
This group would be his oldest and perhaps his finest.
“This team I think is the most compete as far as starting pitching and bridges to the closer and a lineup that puts the ball in play from 1-9,” he said.
New breed up
to old tricks
The Hilo Bronco All-Stars have a strong legacy to uphold, even if they don’t know it.
Coach Gayne Kobayashi hasn’t talked to his team about the raging success Hilo’s 12-and-under teams have enjoyed recently in state PONY baseball tournaments held at Walter Victor complex, and he may not need to.
Making relentless contact at the plate and with six pitchers combining on a four-hitter, the present-day Broncos were something to talk about in their own right with a 9-5 comeback win in their opener against Windward, Oahu.
“We planned for our batters to stay aggressive at the plate,” Kobayashi said. “The bats started off slow but got hot at the end and capitalized on some key situations.”
Hilo hitters struck out just once, drew three walks and one batter was hit, with the rest putting the ball in play as Hilo chipped away at a 3-0 deficit by scoring in each of the final five innings.
No. 7 hitter Jaydon Geraci was 3 for 3 with three RBIs, including a go-ahead run-scoring double in the fifth inning.
In 2015, some of Hilo’s players were playing Pinto ball, too busy or young to remember that the Broncos of yesteryear dominated state play at Walter Victor, winning all four tournaments held at the venue from 2011-15 in dominating fashion.
Somewhat because of that run, the state tournament hadn’t been held in Hilo since.
“We didn’t mention anything to them about that, but we’re aware of that and we plan on playing hard all the way through to the end,” Kobayashi said.
While Hilo’s hitters put stress on Windward’s defense, pitchers Keyan Kanahele (two innings), Neil Colobong-Juayang (two), Clemson Julian (one), Quinn Waiki (one), Noah Palea (two-third) and Jaziah Oili (one-third) combined to strike out 12.
“We followed a strict pitch count so we have our main pitchers available (Sunday),” Kobayashi said.
At 3:30 p.m., Hilo (1-0) plays Mililani (2-0), with the winner advancing to Tuesday’s title game. On Saturday, Mililani beat Aiea, which, like Hilo, was playing its opener.
No. 9 hitter Keagan Pacheco collected two hits for Hilo, including a perfectly placed bunt in the fourth to help fuel a two-run rally to tie the game. Colobong-Juayang started the go-ahead rally in the fifth with a hit, scoring on Waiki’s single to left, and he ripped and RBI double to deep center in the sixth inning as sixth consecutive batters reached via a hit.
“The key players have lot of tournament experience,” Kobayashi said. “We we have a great mixture of speed, power and strong arms. That helps a lot.”
• The Hilo Bronco 11s went ahead with a three-run rally in the fifth, and relief pitcher Zian Wery worked out off bases-loaded jam in the sixth in a 10-7 win against Kauai that – just like that – puts the Big Islanders on the cusp of a crown.
Hilo got a bye Friday in the three-team tournament and will take the field at 10:30 a.m. Monday for the first of two shots at a title. Kauai and Mililani will play at 8 a.m. Sunday for other OVERSET FOLLOWS:spot in the final. On Friday, Kauai beat the Central Oahu team 6-2.
Wery was Hilo’s sixth pitcher after Gavien DeMello called upon Cole Silva, Nathaniel Freeman, Kaleb Wada, Koa Marzo Jr. and Talus Sato.
“A lot of the stuff we talked about was believe in themselves, their team, their family and go from there,” DeMello said.
• The Hilo Pony All-Stars (14-under) bowed out of the tournament with their second loss, 7-1 to Kauai.
