Arizona is all that stands in the way of a West Regional sweep for Nobu Yamauchi RBI’s baseball teams in Los Angeles.
As the Hilo-based clubs learned Saturday in losses, Arizona can be tough, however both teams rebounded later in the day in the semifinals to advance to Sunday’s finals as USC’s Dedeaux Field.
The Hawaii seniors (ages 16-18) rode a complete game from Cody Hirata to thump Los Angeles 12-2, while the juniors resumed their rout-winning ways in a 14-0 victory against Montana.
Save for a 11-2 loss to Arizona on Saturday morning, the Chris Honda-coached juniors have outscored their competition 47-1.
Against Montana, Holua Lee and Kyson Wada combined on a three-hit shutout, Hanalei Warren (2 for 3) hit a two-run home run and Carson Kawaguchi ripped a three-run triple.
Earlier, Kobe Kagimoto homered against Arizona, which has proven to be different animal than the other three teams Hawaii has faced the past two days.
“They are big and tough,” Honda said. “They are deep in pitching, they can hit and they play sound defense.”
Hawaii could have an ace up its sleeve in Kamehameha junior Zakaia Michaels, who kept his pitch count low in a win Friday against Los Angeles. At the plate Friday in two wins, Honda said Michaels went 6 for 7 with six RBIs.
James Kapela and Lee each collected two hits against Arizona.
The seniors absorbed a 6-1 loss to the RBI team from Grand Canyon State, but they handed the ball to Hirata and got off to a quick start against Los Angeles, with Brett Fujii and Chris Hatakenaka-Gibbs reaching on hit and scoring during a three-run first inning. Hawaii tacked on five runs in the fifth as Ryan Cabreira, Kaynen Tolentino, Hirata, Sheldon Aribal, Taj Vera Cruz and Keola Ili reached base consecutively.
Tolentino was 4 for 4, and Cabreira, Tolentino and Hirata also collected multiple hits.
Hirata struck out nine and threw 103 pitches.
“It was his game,” coach Kyle Wada said.
“We’ll figure out (Sunday) when we get there.”
The Nobu Yamauchi juniors take on Arizona at 5:30 a.m. HST Sunday for a World Series berth, and the seniors title game follows at 8 a.m.
“It’s a very well-run tournament and Hawaii is doing well, so it’s very exciting,” Honda said.
• The Nobu Yamauchi RBI softball team was eliminated with an 8-4 loss to Anaheim in the semifinals, finishing 2-2. Earlier, Los Angeles beat Hawaii 9-5 despite a grand slam by Brandee Chinen.