KEALAKEKUA — A little bit of momentum mixed with a whole lot of hustle kept Konawaena’s season alive on Saturday.
The Wildcats capitalized on five Hawaii Preparatory Academy errors to come away with an 8-2 victory at Gabby Inaba Field, evening up the BIIF Division II semifinal series at a game apiece. The deciding Game 3 will be played Monday at 3 p.m. in Kealakekua.
“When you hustle everything out, it puts some pressure on the other team and those errors can pop up. Momentum changes when that happens, and we will take it,” Konawaena head coach Adam Tabieros said. “It’s a good win, but we are not satisfied yet.”
Junior pitcher Tristan DeAguiar recorded the victory on the hill, surrendering just three hits and striking out eight.
“When Tristan is on the mound, he is going to keep us in the game,” Tabieros said. “We just need to back him up with our bats and create plays.”
Austin Ewing and Andrew Udac had a pair of hits for the Wildcats, while Vohn Yamaguchi punched in a pair of RBIs. Kolu Alani scored twice, ending up at third on two of his hits.
“We told each other we needed to stick together. There was no option to just give up,” Alani said. “We got our bats going a bit and had some good pitching out there.”
That was some nice praise from Alani — the Game 1 starter — for DeAguiar, who kept the Ka Makani batters off-balance with his speedy fastball and solid changeup.
“We just needed that momentum,” DeAguiar said. “That’s what we were looking for coming in.”
The day didn’t exactly start smoothly for Konawaena. Early on, it looked like Hawaii Prep would be the team with all the momentum, carrying over confidence from a 1-0 victory in the series opener.
After the Wildcats went down in order during their first chance at the plate, Ka Makani drew a walk and loaded the bases with a pair of singles from Braden Kojima and Finn Richmond. Hawaii Prep would get two runs in the stanza, scoring on a wild pitch and an error.
The Wildcats didn’t dwell on the deficit, answering with a four-run third inning rally, then adding to the lead with two runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
“They had a different kind of focus,” Tabieros said. “It effected them but they never got down or defeated. I was very proud with how they responded.”
Alani — who pitched well despite the team’s shutout loss on Friday — was happy to see some bigger numbers lighting up on the scoreboard.
“We were down just one run (in Game 1). We felt like we could come back but couldn’t find it,” Alani said. “We picked each other up today, got on base and brought guys home.”
Finn Richmond took the loss for Hawaii Prep, pitching 4 2/3 innings with four hits and two earned runs. His deceptive curve struck out six Wildcats. Skylar Roque-Sunahara closed out the contest.
After the two-hit first inning, Micheal Hughes was the only Ka Makani player to register a hit the rest of the game.
Ka Makani are seeking to return to the title game for the first time since 2014. Hawaii Prep coach Jordan Hayslip kept it pretty straight forward on the game plan for the rubber-match.
“We just have to regroup and get ready to play on Monday,” he said. “It comes down to the fundamentals — pitching, hitting and fielding.”
Kamehameha 8, Honokaa 2
Kyran Kai tossed four hitless innings and helped his cause at the plate with two hits and two RBIs, and the Warriors came within one out of a no-hitter to sweep the Dragons.
The visiting team on its home field in Game 2, Kamehameha (14-2) scored in every inning but the fourth and will vie for its sixth consecutive BIIF Division II championship against either Hawaii Prep or Konawaena in another best-of-three series that starts Friday at Wong Stadium.
Bula Ahuna and Rydge Ishii also contributed to the Warriors’ 10-hit attack with two singles apiece, each scored a run and drove one in, and Jaisten Cabatbat knocked in a run with a triple, the only extra base-hit of the game. DallasJ Duarte reached base four times.
Dragons starter Canen Perreira kept his team in the game, but he walked six batters in 5 1/3 innings.
Kai walked two and struck out one, allowing two unearned runs – Kamehameha made four errors – before Justyce Ishii pitched two spotless innings and Zakaia Michaels worked the seventh, allowing a single to Dakota Kala with two outs.
Honokaa finished the season 4-12.
