Ka‘u High’s Pomai Kajiwara-Ke was not the likeliest candidate to play walk-off baseball hero, his coach said. But one swing of the bat can change a lot for a player and team.
This is not your pre-pandemic BIIF Division II baseball playoff race. Not with Pahoa primed to grab a berth and not with the Trojans now also in contention after storming back to beat Hawaii Prep 7-6 on Saturday at Wong Stadium. Kajiwara-Ke capped a four-run rally with a two-out single that brought home Ocean Nihipali-Sesson with the winning run.
Ka‘u coach Rolland Alcoran used one word to describe the bottom of the seventh: “Pandemonium.”
It produced his team’s first win, came before an excited cheering section and came after he gave Kajiwara-Ke a little pep talk.
“Pomai’s been struggling all year and not confident,” Alcoran said. “That last inning, I told him to just be confident, get the bat on the ball. Good things happen when you hit it, and, sure enough, he hit it.
“This was our championship, to get out of the cellar, and they bought in. They were down (five), but they weren’t giving up.”
But he’s also hopeful Kajiwara-Ke’s newfound confidence can become contagious. The Trojans were handled in their first two games this season by Pahoa (1-2) and Honokaa (4-1), but they might have a new look for their remaining contests: at Kamehameha (2-0) on Monday and against Konawaena (2-2) on April 16.
“Our players, they are kind of unsure of themselves,” Alcoran said. “They have the talent, they are used to playing sports, this is just new to them. This game right here, we’re going to have a different outlook.”
The mindset is also different with the Daggers, who are fielding a team for the first time since a winless 2017 campaign after Gavien DeMello helped resurrect the program.
“I knew I was going to have a team. I knew I was going to have at least 10 to 12 players,” DeMello said. “It actually surprised me, 16 came out. It was really nice to see.”
Pahoa’s 10-0 win against Ka’u on March 5 was its first victory since 2015, and another one Monday at Hawaii Prep (0-3) would go a long way toward gaining a spot in the semifinals.
“My goal from the start was making the playoffs,” DeMello said. “Big game for us (Monday).”
In their last game March 29, Pahoa battled back to tie Konawaena before falling 6-5.
DeMello has had himself a full school year. He also was an assistant on the Daggers’ football team and coached the basketball team.
“I need a vacation after this,” he said with a laugh.
When he comes back, one of his goals is to continue to grow the baseball program. Pahoa has five club players: Tripp Kahsen, Donivan Lynch, Brayden Conda-Tolle, Angus Johnston and Shane Sale-Silva. All but Sale-Silva played under DeMello with the Waiakea Uka Tigers.
“The good thing is I only have four upperclassmen,” he said. “My goal, down the line, is for a lot of the guys that go to (play at) Hilo and Waiakea and stuff, who live on this side, is for them to come back after seeing that we have a good program.”
Because of its location, Ka‘u has it even tougher to make baseball ends meet. The Trojans revived their program in 2019, winning a game, before the pandemic shut down play the next season.
Alcoran calls it an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to field a team.
“These kids, they show up every day, they work hard,” he said. “Some of them never played baseball. I had a handful of them that kind of showed up this year. Worked hard and it paid off for them.”
Others, such as senior Jonah Beck, came up with Ka’u’s youth baseball program.
In the bottom of the seventh Saturday at Wong, Beck drew a walk to put runners first and second after Keenan Toriano coaxed a walk to open the frame. The key at-bat of the inning, the coach said, was when the next batter, Jocyiah Mukini, hit a ball to third that was misplayed for an error, allowing Toriano to score.
Nihipali-Sesson’s hit made it 6-5 and Cyrus Eder’s grounder scored the tying run, setting the stage for Kajiwara-Ke, who was able to impress some younger fans.
“What was so awesome was we had our feeder programs, our Mustangs and our Pony, and they were playing down at the other field,” Alcoran said. “They got done, and they got to come and watch the last three innings. They were excited and cheering. It was great.”
Toriano came on in the fifth to limit Ka Makani and was the winning pitcher.
Trailing 6-1, the Trojans chipped away at their deficit in the sixth, scoring two runs.
Ka Makani lost despite outhitting Ka‘u 7-3. Hudson Mangold, Alex Goodman and Krystof Kalina collected two hits apiece for HPA.
Hilo 13, Keaau 0: Xaige Lancaster hit a three-run, inside-the-park homer Saturday at Wong Stadium, and the Vikings used four pitchers and got every position player an at-bat against the winless Cougars.
Eli Yamanaka, Jayden Geraci, Braycen Furuli and Dylan Villanueva pitched for Hilo (3-1).