Waiakea’s Taylor Nishimura was making sure her team’s bats were in order only to notice another equipment snafu. She couldn’t find her batting gloves.
Waiakea’s Taylor Nishimura was making sure her team’s bats were in order only to notice another equipment snafu. She couldn’t find her batting gloves.
The Warriors conducted a brief search before their at-bat in the bottom of the first, and it’s clear they found them.
Nishimura and Skylar Thomas each stroked four hits, and Waiakea stayed one step of ahead of Kealakehe on Friday, winning the opener of the BIIF Division I championship series 14-4 on its home field.
The teams will return for Game 2 at 1 p.m. Saturday and the Warriors (14-2) will go for a sweep and a repeat.
“At least they jumped off quickly,” said coach Bo Saiki after his team scored 11 runs before the Waveriders mustered their first hit.
Waiakea was confident at the plate but not overanxious against injured Waveriders ace Kiara Cantiberos, belting 15 hits.
Before Thomas’ at-bat in the first, Kealakehe (13-4) moved back its left-fielder, expecting the right-handed slugger to pull the ball. On this day, however, Waiakea had other plans.
“We’re trying to get them to keep their shoulder in, that way you’re not fighting everything and popping it up,” Saiki said. “Wherever it’s pitched, hit it that way.”
Sophomore Jourdan Perreira got the memo, serving a pair of RBI triples the opposite way down the right-field line and finishing with three hits and three RBIs.
“My main point was just to make contact with the balls and keep my eyes on it,” Perreira said. “Just trying to hit the ball up the middle.”
Warriors starter Kristi Hirata didn’t give up a hit until Annabelle Dela Cruz hit an RBI triple in the fourth. Hirata allowed three hits and three runs with two strikeouts and four walks in four-plus innings. Alyssa Hara got the final six outs, yielding an unearned run.
Saiki said he was leaning toward having Perreira pitch Game 2.
“We’re pretty confident,” Perreira said.
The season series has been feast or famine for both teams, featuring three TKOs. Cantiberos pitched Kealakehe to a 15-5 victory in Kailua-Kona on March 26, but with Cantiberos sidelined, Waiakea won at home 18-5 on April 5.
“When we first played (Cantiberos), she was throwing a lot inside and that got to us,” Nishimura said. “A lot of time we all try to pull the ball, but we were practicing hard and anticipating her pitches.”
Thomas went to the opposite field for an RBI single and scored on Brandee Chinen’s hit as Waiakea scored three times in the first, and the Warriors tacked on five more runs in the second as Nishimura stroked a two-run single to center and Thomas brought in two with a line-drive double to center.
Thomas drove in three and leadoff hitter Tierra Teves was 2 for 4 with an RBI single. With a runner on in the third, Teves bunted and came all the way around to score on a throwing error.
With her knee wrapped, Cantiberos gutted out five innings, striking out two and walking three with four hit batters.
“She’s not 100 percent, but we told her to let them put the ball in play,” Kealakehe coach Loni Mercado said. “With their hitters, it’s really tough to defend.”
Tavian Taketa tripled and scored in the fifth and Kawehi Kahele had a double and scored two runs.
Mercado said her team’s biggest adjustment for Game 2 would be it’s mindset.
“I’ve been saying all season we have to believe. When that dynamic is not there, their minds go to mush and it’s like cutting off one of their arms,” she said. “We still have a lot of fight left in us.”
Kealakehe 000 220 – 4 5 3
Waiakea 353 201 – 14 15 2