KEALAKEKUA — Offense wins games, defense wins championships.
KEALAKEKUA — Offense wins games, defense wins championships.
It’s a cliche uttered mostly in football, but the same can be said about baseball — especially BIIF baseball.
Kamehameha is the four time defending BIIF Division II champion and showed why in a 4-0 victory over Konawaena at Gabby Inaba Field on Saturday.
The Warriors were flawless in the field behind ace Brandyn Lee-Lehano, who picked up the victory after allowing two hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked six.
“The defense was great behind me and I really appreciated it,” Lee-Lehano said. “I felt I did alright, just too many walks and missing my spots.”
Kamehameha not only made the routine plays behind Lee-Lehano, but the team also made a few spectacular ones as well. Centerfielder Baron Victorino tracked down a pair of fly balls into the gap that looked like guaranteed doubles, while second baseman Daylen Calicdan made a diving play up the middle in the bottom of the fifth inning to quell a Wildcats rally before it began.
“Konawaena played well but their batters hit the ball right at us and we made a few good defensive plays to keep them from scoring,” Kamehameha head coach Andy Correa said. “We made all the routine plays and that was pretty much the difference.”
In the other dugout, Konawaena starting pitcher Logan Canda deserved a better fate. He pitched well, spreading out six hits over five innings, while striking out seven and walking four, but his defense let him down. Canda allowed four runs, but three were unearned due to six errors by the Wildcats.
“The entire game we just didn’t execute and we beat ourselves,” Konawaena head coach Adam Tabieros said. “Logan kept us in the game, it was just unfortunate. Usually we rely on our defense.”
Offensively, Konawaena managed only two hits. Both Phillip Grace and Logan Canda went 1-for-4 with a single apiece.
“The Kamehameha pitcher is really good and he put his fastball where he wanted it and kept us off-balance with his curveball,” Tabieros said. “We also had some nice hits taken away. Kamehameha is a fundamentally sound team and we could not get that clutch hit, or even get the ball to fall anywhere on on the field.”
Hits for the Warriors were spread out to five different batters. Leadoff hitter Kegan Miura led the way with a 2-for-4 performance that included a double. Makana Aiona went 1-for-4 with a double in the first inning, which resulted in the only earned run of the game after Calicdan walked and scored from first.
Kamehameha 101 020 0–4 6 0
Konawaena 000 000 0–0 2 6
Waiakea 11, Hawaii Prep 2
Makoa Andres followed up on his no-hitter against Hilo with another strong outing, and Shaun Kurosawa fueled a pair big innings in Waimea for the Warriors (5-0).
Andres struck out seven in five innings, allowing four hits and one run with one walk.
Kurosawa tripled in the third inning to drive in Gehrig Octavio, who had singled in two runs, capping a four-run rally to give Waiakea a 5-1 lead. The Warriors added four more in the fourth. Trayden Tamiya and Reese Mondina were hit by pitches, with Tamiya scoring on a groundout. Mondina scored on Andres’ hit, and after Octavio doubled, Kurosawa came through with a two-run single.
Andres joined Kurosawa and Octavio with two hits each, and Anthony Benevides drove in two.
Sheldon Aribal was the losing pitcher for Ka Makani (2-4), allowing nine hits and nine runs with a walk and a strikeout.
Blake Winston collected two hits and Kana’i Gaughen dented Andres with a double and scored a run, also finishing with an RBI.
Waiakea 104 410 1–11 11 0
Hawaii Prep 010 001 0–2 6 2
Pahoa at Honokaa: The game was postponed by rain and will be held at 3 p.m. Monday at the Honokaa Park.