No. 5 Kailua overwhelms Kalaheo to stay atop OIA Red East

Jameson White, right, attempts to reach home safely as Kalaheo catcher Brandon Burton, left, looks to tag White out. White was 2-of-5 at the plate and scored 2 runs and stole 3 bases against Kalaheo. Johnny Wilson | Special to SL

KAILUA — In a meeting of Windward Oahu rivals, Kailua beat Kalaheo in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East game by a score of 11-3 at Kailua District Park Wednesday afternoon.

The visiting Surfriders (8-2) scored multiple runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings to turn away the Mustangs (0-10).

Despite what its head coach described as a lack of hitting, Kailua got 11 hits in the win to hold the top spot in the division.

"We hit well enough to win today," Ishigo said. "We didn’t hit as well as we thought we would of."

Kailua was able to post a run right from the get-go. With runners at first and third, courtesy runner Noah Ah Yat was able to induce a throw to second and allowed Jameson White to score from third. White finished the game 2 for 5 with the bat scoring two times and three stolen bases.

To begin the third the Surfriders got back-to-back hits from leadoff hitter White and No. 2 hitter Brendan Odo to plate a run and set the table for their big hitter Dalton Kalama. Kalama took the 1-1 pitch and raked it deep to right field to a score another run. Kalama’s courtesy runner, Ah Yat scored on a wild pitch on the next at-bat, giving the Surfers a 4-0 lead.

"I had a fastball inside, kind of turned on it and hit to right field," said Kalama who went 2 for 2 with an RBI and a walk.

Kailua added three more runs in the fifth inning to balloon its lead to 7-0, helped by an RBI single to left by Keiki Kanahele-Santos that scored Odo from second. Odo went 2 for 4 with an RBI and run scored

Kailua starter Royce Komesu went four scoreless innings with four strike outs and four hits of before he was lifted for the lefty reliever, Pilipo Kupahu.

With the dominant Komesu gone the Kalaheo bats looked to make a comeback in the bottom of the fifth.

Things started rough for Kupahu after two walks, a fly out to center, and a hit batsman. Kupahu then faced Jack Bell with the bases loaded and one out. On a fastball, Bell took Kupahu deep over the left fielder’s head for a bases-clearing triple, bringing the Kalaheo faithful to life and to within four runs of Kailua.

"I was thinking with the bases loaded (that) this is what I’m the worst at," said Bell with a smile. "I got a fastball and just let it all out."

At 7-3, the lead was a little less comfortable for the fifth-ranked Surfriders, who added four more runs in the seventh to increase their lead to eight.

Kalaheo’s Iokepa Lapera pitched admiarably but wasn’t able to hold off Kailua in the final inning. Lapera went 6 2/3 innings of work before being lifted for Kaliu Lapera and Cameron Jeter to record the final out.

"We hit the ball when we had to and we hit the ball more with two out RBIs," Ishigo said. "We're slowly making progress. "We’re getting better. There’s some things we still need to fine tune, (but) we've just got to keep working and get through what we need to do.”

Kalaheo will continue to look for its first win as they take on Moanalua on Saturday.