MeKenna Wakakuwa’s palm ball moves a lot like a curveball as it gets closer to the plate, though maybe by this point his creation has morphed into a curve with certain early elements of a changeup.
Whatever the case, Wakakuwa’s pitching arsenal more than held its end of the bargain Friday at the state PONY League tournament.
It was the other facets of the game where the Hilo Pony All-Stars fell short, losing 3-0 to Hawaii Pony Damage of Oahu as four double-elimination tournaments began at Walter Victor complex.
“You know, to be honest, I thought (pitching) would be where we were weakest,” coach Kenn Wakakuwa said, “but I was surprised that’s what held us in the game. That’s how it goes.”
The other Hilo team to play Friday got off to a stronger start, with the Pony 13 All-Stars shutting out Aiea, Oahu 12-0, and two more Hilo squads are on deck in what shapes up to be a busy Saturday morning of baseball.
At 8 a.m., the Pony 13s face Kauai, with the winner advancing to Monday’s title game
At 9 a.m., the Bronco 11s face Kauai, with the winner advancing to Monday’s title game.
At 11:30 a.m., the Broncos (12-under) open play in a six-team tournament against Windward.
At 10:30 a.m., Hilo Pony (14-and-under) and Kauai play an elimination game.
“If the bats wake up, we should be fine,” Kenn Wakakuwa. “You have to tip your cap to (Oahu’s) pitching, but I thought we were going to put the ball in play more.”
Hits were hard to come by for either team, with Hilo and Oahu Damage combining for just four, and well-struck balls came at a premium.
Mekenna Wakakuwa fooled hitters with a hybrid pitch that started high and out of the strike zone only to break sharply to catch enough of the plate to be called for a strike after the batter had given up on the pitch. Wakakuwa, set to enter Hilo High as a freshman, struck out six in four-plus innings, yielding two hits, two walks and two runs (one earned).
“It’s more like a palm ball,” Kenn Wakakuwa said. “I guess you could say it’s his own style. Started with a palm ball and developed into curve, which is what it is.”
Hilo committed each of the four errors in the game, two proving costly and leading to the three runs, and its only hit came off the bat of Mekenna Wakakuwa in the seventh.
Shane-Josiah Ramelb struck out five in three scoreless innings for Oahu, and Nakoa Moses-Gomera and Dallas Alapai each worked an inning.
Ryder Carenio and Landon Criste each pitched an inning for Hilo.
Kenn Wakakuwa said pitching wasn’t a concern moving forward, though he will address his team’s base running.
Hilo managed to coax three walks, but each time it ran itself into an out on the base paths.
“I think they were in shock because we didn’t have base runners all game, next you know it’s like, “Woah.’
“Maybe something’s in the water, it looked like every game today the base runners were in zombie land.”
Taking the field next were Shon Malani’s Hilo’s Pony 13 All-Stars, who were awake from the start in a TKO against Aiea, getting three hits from Brayden Malani and two apiece from Shane Sale-Silva and Kaohu Kawelu.
Kolten McCallum struck out five in 2 1/3 innings, Loren Iwata got two outs, then Edinn Kitagawa and Gavin Nishida each pitched an inning.
The Pony 13s will start things off Saturday, and the Malani’s plan is to use Sale-Silva on the mound to try and earn a day off.
“I told the team go home, have dinner and get a good night’s rest,” Malani said.
Pony (14-under)
Friday
Oahu 3, Hilo 0
Maui 11, Kauai 8
Saturday
Hilo vs. Kauai, 10:30 a.m. (elimination game)
Maui vs. Oahu, 3:30 p.m.
Pony 13s
Friday
Hilo 12, Aiea 0
Kauai 13, Millilani 2
Saturday
Hilo vs. Kauai, 8 a.m.
Mililani vs. Aiea, 1 p.m. (elimination game)
Broncos (12-under)
Friday
Central Oahu 12, Maui 5
Windward def. Kauai
Saturday
Hilo vs. Windward, 11:30 a.m.
Central Oahu vs. Aiea, Oahu, 2 p.m.
Bronco 11s
Friday
Kauai 6, Central Oahu 2
Saturday
Hilo vs. Kauai, 9 a.m.