In 2025, Waiakea baseball came close.
At the midway point of the season, the Warriors caught fire — winning six straight, including beating Kamehameha-Hawaii in the BIIF Division I championship and knocking off Kaiser and Baldwin in the HHSAA tournament to advance to the state title game.
“Last season was a rough start for us,” head coach Chris Honda told the paper. “But things really came together for us in the middle of the season to the end. Things gelled, and we started playing really well. We played good, fundamental baseball and decreased errors. We also had good situational hitting.
“It just all came together.”
But Waiakea’s late-season magic ran out against Saint Louis in a 5-0 loss, falling just short of winning a third state title in program history. But with 13 returners from last season back in the mix for 2026, the team is hungry to get back to that stage.
“(Playing in the state game) was an experience that they all enjoyed,” Honda continued. “But coming up short definitely put some fire into them for this year to work hard and look forward to something.”
Waiakea finished 2025 9-4-1 overall with a scoring margin of 74-33. While the Warriors lost key seniors Ivor Brooks, Boston Kobayshi, Teyson Tamiya, Kalama Ulibas, Clemson Julian and Ty Fujii to graduation, the team has a pipeline of young talent and new upperclassmen ready to step into leadership roles.
This year’s senior class consists of pitcher/outfielder Hurley Soong, pitcher Micah Polloi, pitcher/outfielder Jerrell Alston, infielder Jesse Inouye, catcher/infielder Iverson Ballo, outfielder Cole Silva, pitcher/infielder Zian Wery and infielder Axel Akau.
“We have a strong senior class, they’re great leaders,” Honda said. “I think that’s going to be a big plus for us — having them to be good leaders and mentors for the younger ones.”
The rest of the team is rostered by juniors Logen Doran, Tycen Baruela, Kysen Honda, Keizen Ono and Conor Wallace, sophomores Oakley Kailimai, Eyshen Kitagawa and Brennan Woods and freshmen Knoxx Kailimai, Keyan Wada, James Nishimura, Jordan Pagan and Madden Awaya.
While the Warriors’ season opener isn’t until March 4 at Kealakehe, Chris Honda can already see the strong team camraderie in preseason practices.
“This is a real close-knit team,” he said. “We always tell them that we have to play for each other, and that’s the only way we can be successful as a team. Confidence will be a very important thing for us this year.”
But to ultimately return to the state-title stage, the Warriors will need to stay fundamentally sound — as Honda consistently preaches limiting errors and controlling the baseball.
If Waiakea can be sound, the team will have just as good of a chance to make a deep playoff run as anyone.
“At the beginning of last season, we made quite a bit of errors and allowed a lot of free bases to the other team,” Honda explained. “But we got much better at it, and that was the key to our success. I think it’ll be a key factor for us this year.”
While winning states is a goal for the Warriors, Honda and his staff want to approach this season by taking it one game at a time and improving each day. And hopefully, that internal growth can lead to another deep playoff run.
“I think every team in the state wants to bring home that state championship trophy, so we try to not focus too much on that,” Honda said. “We talk about it, but we really focus on getting better every day at practice — fundamentals like catching, throwing, situational hitting, different approaches at the plate, throwing strikes and commanding their pitches, base running.
“We just want to try to fine-tune every aspect of the game, and hopefully, that will lead us to another successful season.”
See the paper all season for more BIIF baseball coverage.