Waiakea High School’s varsity baseball team began its season Friday evening with a rapid, home rout over Kohala High School — winning 16-1 in four innings.
Kohala’ top first was brief. Warriors starting pitcher Loren Iwata hit the strike zone like a laser, striking out the Cowboys’ first two batters in three pitches each. Kohala’s three-hole hit a grounder to shortstop Devin Garza, who threw to first baseman Clemson Julian to end the inning.
Garza led off with a deep left triple, setting the tone for what would become a colossal bottom first — in which Waiakea scored 11 runs, notching five hits and 13 batters touching base. Ivor Brooks also tripled, and Jonah Banasan doubled. Flyouts at first and middle outfield marked the inning’s first two outs, and a groundball picked up and thrown by Kohala pitcher Trycen Alejandro to first-baseman Esaias Hook ended the inning.
With Kaleb Wada on the hill, the Warriors notched another three-batter inning. Wada struck out the leadoff, retrieved a grounder and threw to first to put out the next batter, and struck out the following batter in three pitches.
Joshua Ward accounted for Waiakea’s only hit in the bottom second, as Kohala outfielders Tasi Sauta and Skyler Caravalho caught flyballs to end the inning relatively quickly.
Wada returned to the mound in the top third, and again led his team to a three-batter inning. Kohala’s first batter hit a grounder to Garza and was put out at first, then Wada struck out the next two batters in just seven pitches.
“I liked how our pitchers threw strikes,” WHS head coach Chris Honda said. “We eliminated errors. We caught the ball and threw the ball, and made the plays we were supposed to make.”
Waiakea buried the Cowboys with five more runs in the bottom third.
Kohala notched its first run in the top fourth. Leadoff Easton Hoshida singled, then stole second, advanced on a grounder, then reached the plate as a flyout was hit deep right. Brooks struck out the following batter to end the game.
Ward led Waiakea at bat, going three for three with a walk and three runs. Garza went three for four with three runs.
“Josh Ward looked good behind the plate today,” Honda said. “He had some nice base hits, some solid base hits. Of course, Devin Garza played solid defense and had some good approaches at the plate. Those two guys are our leaders out here, and they’re really guiding our younger players in the right direction. They’re the nucleus of our team.”
Clemson Julian was the Warriors’ top baserunner with two stolen bases.
‘We saw some smart baserunning,” Honda said, “which we really focus a lot on.”
Carvalho and Sauta held down Kohala’s defense, notching three and two putouts, respectively.
Friday’s performance bodes well for the reigning HHSAA DI state champion Warriors, who are looking to remain a statewide threat after graduating eleven seniors last spring.
“We are very young this year,” Honda said, “but we have a good bunch of players. Good kids. They’re very close and they play well as a team. We like what we see as coaches and we always emphasize to them that we play as a team and control what we can control.”
Waiakea will travel across town 6 p.m. Wednesday to face Hilo High, then will play away again Saturday at Konawaena High.