OIA Baseball
Roosevelt rallies in seventh to walk-off against Moanalua


  



Tue, Apr 22, 2014 @ [ 3:30 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Moanalua 0 301010580
Roosevelt 1 0 100046103

W: Jarron Maemori    L: Dez Oki-Takahashi

ROOS: Dustin Tsukano 3-4 2 runs rbi; Reece Okura 5.0 IP 2 ER
MOA: Nicholas Enrico 1-2 run rbi dbl


MAKIKI — Dustin Tsukano scored the game-winning run on a fielder's choice to help Roosevelt walk-off against Moanalua with a 6-5 win in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East regular-season finale for both teams at Stevenson Middle School Tuesday afternoon.

The Rough Riders rallied to score four runs on five hits in the seventh to improve to 8-4. Na Menehune, which used three pitchers in the inning and four for the game, fell to 8-4.

"It gives us a lot of momentum going forward because it took us a while to beat Moanalua, but the win came and it was well-deserved," said Roosevelt senior Keola Tamanaha, beat out a potential inning-ending double play at first to make Tsukano's run count. "We rallied in the end and got the 'W' and that's all that mattered."

Both teams are tied with Kaiser for second in the division. There will be a coin toss Wednesday to determine the final seeding for the 12-team OIA Red Tournament. Kailua finished first and will have a first-round bye along with the second-seeded team.

"We needed to get this win to boost our confidence and hopefully we get the second seed, but if not, then we have the momentum going and hopefully can just pull through in the playoffs," said Tsukano, who batted 3 for 4, drove in a run and scored twice.

Moanalua held a 5-2 lead to start the bottom of the seventh, but Roosevelt sent seven batters to the plate in the inning. Jonah Sasahara led off with a single to right field and Riki Kobayashi moved him over to third on a double that landed just inside of the first-base line in right. Nick Matsuoka hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that allowed Sasahara to score and Kobayashi came around on an RBI-single by Tsukano to make the score 5-4.

"It was just all timely hitting," Tsukano said. "We were hitting in the beginning of the game, but toward the middle we weren't really getting our hits, but we pulled it off in the end."

One batter later, Kainalu Pitoy hit a ball off the fence in right center that plated the tying run in Brandon Leong. Tamanaha then hit a ground ball to the shortstop, who went to second for the second out, but the throw to first was late as Tsukano crossed the plate to start the Roosevelt celebration.

"I knew that I needed to put the ball in play, preferably a high pop-fly deep, but when I made contact I knew I had to run that out and when I saw play at second taking a while, I knew that I had to beat it," Tamanaha said. "Every hit the momentum kept building and building and we knew we were going to make it happen and we did."

After it was all said and done, Rough Riders' coach Les Loo was nearly speechless.

"I can't say anything, because it's all on them. I was just standing there and there were getting their hits, so it's all on the kids, but we'll definitely pick up some confidence from a win like this, so hopefully we can keep this going," Loo said.

The first three batters in the Rough Riders' lineup — Tsukano, Pitoy and Tamanaha, respectively — batted a combined 6 for 9. Pitoy and Tamanaha each drove in two runs and walked once and Leong, the No. 9 hitter, went 2 for 3 and scored twice.

Roosevelt scored single runs in the first and third innings, but committed all three of its errors in a three-run second inning for Moanalua. Na Menehune added single runs in the fourth and sixth innings before the Rough Riders rallied late.

Brayton Sakai batted 3 for 3 to lead Moanalua. Tanner Inouye start on the mound for Na Menehune and allowed two runs on four hits in five innings pitched. Dez Oki-Takahashi was the losing pitcher.

Jarron Maemori pitched two innings in relief of Roosevelt starter Reece Okura and picked up the win.

The game was originally scheduled for Friday, but moved to Monday at the request of the Rough Riders, who had several players participating in a band event that day. However, due to heavy rains Monday, the game was pushed back to Tuesday.

It was the second time the teams had played this season. Moanalua beat Roosevelt 4-0 back on March 26.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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