HONOLULU — Waiakea High and Hilo High’s baseball teams will face off again, this time in the HHSAA Division I fifth-place consolation match.
Thursday also saw several BIIF baseball and softball teams suffer second losses and fall from their respective HHSAA State Championship brackets — ending what has been their third straight week of playoff games since the start of the BIIF semifinals.
Those teams included Hilo softball, Waiakea softball, Honoka‘a High softball and Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i baseball.
The KSH softball team suffered its first loss — while the Konawaena High, Hilo High and Waiakea High baseball team rebounded with wins.
DI baseball: Vikings rout KSM
Hilo smashed Kamehameha Schools – Maui 12-2, earning a berth in the fifth-place consolation match – and therefore one last chance at defeating Waiakea.
The Vikings are now 2-1 in the tournament, while KSM has fallen out.
DI baseball: Waiakea rebounds
The Warriors deafeated Leilehua HS 4-2 in a tightly contested match, leaving three on base in the bottom seventh to secure the win.
The pair went runless until Waiakea plated one in the top third — when Devin Garza doubled and after two batters walked, was batted in by Ivor Brooks.
Each team plated a run in the sixth inning, then the Warriors scored two in the top seventh before an error in the bottom frame gave the Mules their last run.
Kaleb Wada earned the win on the mound, surrendering one earned run on eight hits and two walks in seven innings.
Garza led the team in hits, going two-for-four.
Waiakea, now 1-1 after losing to Waianae on Wednesday, will advance to the fifth-place consolation round.
DII baseball: Time limit serves Warriors loss
The consolation game time limit nullified a four-run top-sixth comeback by KSH — dealing them a fifth-inning, 5-4 loss to Kahuku HS.
The Warriors were behind 3-1 going into the top second, but plated two runs to tie the score. After the third inning, they were behind again, 5-4.
The top sixth inning saw KSH plate four runs, but it was too late. The time limit was imposed, reverting the final score to the score at the end of the fifth inning.
Kaohu Kawelu has a great day, going two-for-three with walks to bat in a run and lead the Warriors at the plate — also crossing the plate twice.
Kydyn Nakamura batted in two runs to lead in RBI, going one-for-three. Dylan Hanson went two-for-four with a RBI.
Keyan Kanahele pitched the first two innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and two walks. Kekama Robello relieved him for the next three innings and surrendered one walk, with no hits or runs.
The Warriors have dropped out of the tournament with a 0-2 record.
DII baseball: Konawaena dominates Moloka‘i
The Wildcats secured their berth in today’s fifth-place consolation game by defeating Moloka‘i HS 9-3.
The game remained runless until the bottom third, when Konawaena plated four runs.
The leadoff grounded out, but two-spot Trez Uemoto reached on a HPB and three-spot Maika Akamu singled. Tavis Fediuk went in as a pinch runner for Akamu, then Charlie Kuwada doubled on a hard grounder to left field — batting in Uemoto. Five-spot Jaeden Meyers grounded an infield error, alowing him to reach while Fediuk crossed the plate. Tobias Naihe singled to bat in Kuwada, then Hayden Nishida hit a ground ball into another error — during which Meyers scored.
Moloka‘i halved its deficit with two runs in the top fourth, but the Wildcats got the bats going to match with two more runs in the bottom frame. Taven Hiraishi led off, tripling on a line drive to center field. Two straight strikeouts put him in danger of being stranded, until Akamu stepped up to the plate and hit a line-drive homer over the left fence.
In the top fifth, Moloka‘i plated another run — but Konawaena built even more distance with three runs in the bottom fifth. Meyers led with a single, the two-spot struck out, then Nishida tripled to bat Meyers in. AJ Blanco followed up with another line drive to the outfield, doubling to send Nishida home. Hiraishi singled, then — after Kolt Baptista grounded into a fielder’s choice that put out Hiraishi — Uemoto singled on a fly ball to bat in Blanco.
Hiraishi pitched the whole game, surrendering one earned run on three hits and two walks — striking out eight.
Akamu led in the box, going two-for-three with two RBI.
The Wilcats are now 1-1 for the tourney and will play against Kahuku in the fifth place game today at 3:30 p.m.
Moloka‘i has fallen out of contention, with a 0-2 tourney record.
DII softball: Menehunes
defeat Warriors
Top seed Waimea HS pulled away from a 5-5 third-inning tie to defeat KSH 12-5 in the DII semifinals.
The Menehunes took the lead in the first inning, plating two runs in the top frame and holding the Warriors to one in the bottom frame. Waimea plated two more runs in the top second, but KSH tied the game with a three-run bottom second.
That three-run inning was led off by Rebekah Sipinga’s double. Sipinga was then batted in by Kailee Wagner’s single following a groundout and a strikeout. Courtesy runner Mya Domingo-Bautista replaced Wagner, then Emily Hora reached on an infield error. Napua Ho bunted into an error that allowed both runners to score, but she was tagged out trying to reach third.
Both teams each plated one more run in the third inning, then went scoreless until the top sixth — when fielding errors by KSH and a two-run homer by Kayla Prigge afforded the Menehunes four runs.
In the top seventh, infield errors in three consecutive at-bats loaded the bases for Waimea. In the next at-bat, a runner scored on a wild pitch, then the next two scored on passed balls.
Kahiwa Ili led KSH at the plate, going two-for-four with a RBI.
The Warriors, now 1-1 in the tourney, will move to the third-place consolation bracket — and will play their first game today at 3 p.m against Nanakuli HS.
Waimea will proceed to the DII Championship game, where it will face off against PAC-5.
DI softball: Lady Vikings drop from tourney
The Vikings fell 16-2 to Leilehua HS in a consolation bracket matchup, their second five-inning loss of the state tournament.
The loss ended Hilo’s state run and postseason, its final tourney record being 0-2.
After downing the Vikings in three batters in the top first, the Mules took a commanding lead with five runs in the bottom frame. Leilehua shut Hilo out again in the top second, then plated two more runs in the bottom.
The Vikings scored their first run in the top third. Leadoff Lei Soller reached on an error — then, with two outs on the board, advanced to third on Kiana Agpalza’s single and was batted in by Madison Waiki’s single.
Hilo seemed to be gaining momentum when it shut Leilehua out in the bottom third, but the Mules downed the Vikings in three batters again in the top fourth — then blew them away with a nine-run bottom frame.
In the top fifth, the Vikings eked out one more run — but the game was called asoon after.
Agpalza and Waiki each went one-for-two, with one RBI apiece. Zaydee Amar went one-for-one, scoring a run.
Hilo concludes its 2023 season as the BIIF Division I runner-up, with a 7-5 overall record and 7-2 regular season record.
Its season highlights include a bottom-seventh, 12-11 comeback win against Waiakea early in the season— as well as a 18-13 late-season win over KSH.
After falling in a seventh-inning loss to Kealakehe HS during the regular season, the Vikings swept the Waveriders in the BIIF semifinals, shutting them out 10-0 in Game Two to secure a championship berth.
Leilahua will continue to today’s ninth-place match.
DI softball: Hurricanes
dominate Warriors
Waiakea’s softball team also fell from the tourney with its second straight run-rule loss, losing 12-0 to Kapolei HS in a four inning outing.
On Wednesday, Waiakea began tourney play with a 16-3 loss to ‘Iolani HS.
The BIIF champions concluded HHSAA tourney play with a 0-2 record.
The Warriors ended BIIF playoffs with a 11-2 overal record, and a 7-2 regular season record.
Today, the Hurricanes will play in the fifth-place consolation match. Kapolei defeated Maui HS 15-7 on Tuesday before falling 4-3 to Campbell HS on Wednesday.
DII softball: Dragons
drop from bracket
Honoka‘a lost 13-2 to Kapa‘a HS in a five inning game, falling from the fifth-place consolation bracket and ending the tournament with a 1-2 record.
The Warriors got ahead with five runs in the top first, and the Dragons were only able to respond with one in the bottom frame. By the bottom fourth, when Honoka‘a plated its second run, Kapa‘a had plated four more.
In the top fifth, the Warriors scored four more runs, then shut out the Dragons in the bottom frame to end the game.
Sunny Akau led Honoka‘a at the plate, going two-for-two. Iliana Kaiamakini went one-for-two with a walk, batting a run in.
The Dragons started the state tournament with a nine-inning, 15-13 win against Waialua HS on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they fell 14-3 to Nanakuli for their first loss.
Honoka‘a went 7-2 in the regular season, and defeated Kohala in the BIIF semifinals before getting swept by KSH in the BIIF Championship.
The Dragons’ season highlights include defeating Hilo 5-4 early in the season.
