By JOE FERRARO
Stephens Media
HONOKAA — According to Konawaena outfielder Domonic Morris, the Wildcats’ baseball team likes playing under pressure, saying it “wakes us up.’’
The Wildcats certainly showed the ability to thrive under pressure at the plate Tuesday at Honokaa’s Parks and Recreation facility, putting on the best display of clutch two-out hitting Lloyd Fujino had seen in 10 seasons as Konawaena’s manager.
The Wildcats scored eight runs with two outs in the second inning, and they needed every single run — and then some — to beat Honokaa 9-8 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation game.
With its victory, Konawaena (9-0) earned the West’s No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the BIIF Division II tournament, which begins April 24 with first-round games.
With two outs and nobody on base in the top of the second, nine consecutive Wildcat batters reached base against losing pitcher Lloyd Edwards, who had given Honokaa (6-4) a 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout a half inning earlier.
Royce Torres-Torioka and Ryan Torres-Torioka strung together back-to-back RBI singles to right field, giving Konawaena a 2-1 lead. The inning also featured a bases-loaded walk by Kileona Manzano, starting pitcher Jarrett Kitaoka’s run-scoring infield single, Morris’s two-run double and Evyn Yamaguchi’s RBI single.
“When it gets down to pressure, we get things done,’’ Morris said. “We constantly practice the pressure situations, hitting with two outs and two strikes.’’
Morris and Kitaoka both went 3 for 4, while Ryan Torres-Torioka hit an all-important solo home run to deep left-center off Dragons ace Dylan Shiraki in the top of the sixth to finish 2 for 4.
Royce Torres-Torioka, a sophomore, got the victory for Konawaena by pitching 3 2/3 innings in relief of Kitaoka. He gave up two runs on two hits, striking out one batter and walking one.
But Honokaa made Royce Torres-Torioka earn his victory.
Shiraki’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh plated Austin Jardine and got the Dragons within 9-8. But with a runner on first and two outs, Royce Torres-Torioka induced a flyout by Damien Kaluhimoku that Morris caught even though he lost his footing and stumbled to the ground in center field.
“Honokaa will fight to the end,’’ Fujino said.
Edwards suffered the loss after allowing eight runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out none.
Ryan Torres-Torioka’s solo homer was the only run Shiraki gave up in 5 1/3 innings. Pitching on three days’ rest, Shiraki scattered six hits, striking out six batters and walking just one in a 98-pitch outing that allowed the Dragons to chip away at what was an 8-1 Konawaena lead.
Honokaa faced the task of erasing a seven-run deficit while facing the reigning BIIF West Player of the Year in Kitaoka, who entered the contest with a 3-0 record.
However, Joey Charbonneau started Honokaa’s rally with a two-run homer to left-center off Kitaoka in the second, and Ikena Juan knocked out the Konawaena ace in the third with a one-out, two-run single. Charbonneau followed with a sacrifice fly off Royce Torres-Torioka that scored Kaluhimoku and made it 8-6.
“We’re very proud of how they fought back,’’ Honokaa assistant coach James Lukzen said. “We needed a game like this to see the character (of the team), to come back from seven runs. In the beginning of the game, they could have hung their heads, but they made a ball game out of it.’’
In 3 1/3 innings Kitaoka gave up six runs — four earned — on just three hits, walking three batters and striking out none. Two Konawaena errors didn’t help Kitaoka’s cause during his outing, but Manzano may have prevented the Dragons from doing further damage by turning in the play of the day.
On a full sprint, Manzano reached up to catch a deep fly ball by Kaluhimoku before crashing into the left-field fence and lying on the ground for about five minutes. After the play, every Konawaena position player ran out to left field to check on Manzano’s status.
Manzano, who walked off the field under his own power, suffered bruised ribs.
Fujino didn’t expect Manzano, a powerful cleanup hitter in the middle of the Wildcats’ order, to miss “more than a week and a half” of the season.
Konawaena 080 001 0 — 9 11 4
Honokaa 102 301 1 — 8 5 3
Waiakea 10, Keaau 0: Senior ace left-hander Quintin Torres-Costa continued his dominance of the Cougars, firing a five-inning no-hitter with 10 strikeouts to help the host Warriors (12-0) wrap up the top seed in the East.
Torres-Costa walked a batter but faced the minimum to beat Keaau (5-7) for the third time this season. Waiakea has outscored Keaau by a combined 29-2 in the three contests, with Torres-Costa yielding only one hit in 17 innings with 28 strikeouts. The teams will meet again April 27 in the BIIF Division I semifinals. The other semifinal will match East No. 2 Hilo and the West’s Kealakehe.
At the plate, Torres-Costa was 2 for 3. Kean Wong and Korin Medeiros each scored three runs as the Warriors took advantage of nine Keaau errors.
Adrian Huff took the loss, allowing six hits and seven runs — three earned — in a game that ended after 4 1/2 innings because of the league’s 10-run rule.
Torres-Costa retired the first 10 batters before Jonathan Segovia coaxed a walk in the fourth, but he was quickly erased when catcher Rason Martines grounded into an inning-ending double play. Torres-Costa struck out the side in the third and fifth.
Maleko Remlinger worked the final two innings for the Cougars and yielded a hit, three runs — one earned— with two walks.
Keaau 000 00 — 0 0 9
Waiakea 340 3x —10 7 0
Hilo 19, Ka’u 1: Koa Matson powered the Vikings in Pahala, hitting two of his team’s four home runs.
Matson finished for 3 for 4 with four RBIs, and Jodd Carter and Kody Kaniho also went deep for Hilo (9-3).
Nick Fukunaga got the win, allowing a run, two hits and a walk with a strikeout in two innings pitched.
Jordan Tagawa followed and struck out three in two scoreless innings while yielding two hits.
Carter, who was 4-5 with three RBIs at the plate, pitched the final inning of the TKO victory and recorded a strikeout.
Anson Arruda added three hits, Kaniho was 2 for 3 with two RBIs, and Chayce Kaaua and Keenan Nishioka also finished with two hits apiece.
Anthony Emmsley took the loss for the Trojans (2-10).
Hilo 373 23 —19
Ka’u 100 00 — 1
Hawaii Prep 11, Kealakehe 4: The visitors from Waimea got a complete game from Jayse Bannister to earn the win.
Bannister pitched sevenn innings, struck out 12, walked three and gave up four runs on four hits. Kai Fink led the Ka Makani (5-5) at the plate, going 2 for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.
Bricen Ferreira suffered the loss. He gave up six runs in four innings pitched. He struck out three and walked seven as Kealakehe fell to 4-7.
Hawaii Prep 022 201 4 — 11 5 5
Kealakehe 000 004 0 — 4 4 2
Pahoa at Kamehameha: The game was postponed by rain and was rescheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday.
