Campbell's Jamin Kalaola throws a pitch to plate against Waipahu Saturday night in an OIA Division I West contest at Central Oahu Regional Park. Sylvia Lee | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

WAIPIO — Same teams, same ending.

Jamin Kalaola fired a two-hitter to help fourth-ranked Campbell stymie Waipahu, 2-1, Saturday night at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional to remain unbeaten in Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West Conference play.

The Sabers swept the season series with the Marauders with the win and improved to 8-0 atop the league standings.

Campbell, who defeated Waipahu, 1-0, on March 13, needs just one more win to clinch a first round bye in the upcoming OIA Division I 12-team playoffs.

"It feels great to be undefeated," said Kalaola. "We just got to keep working hard and keep what we're doing during practice, just pick up our hitting and reduce our errors." 

Kalaola, a junior right-handed pitcher, had a no-hitter going through 4 and 1/3 innings, giving up his first hit on the 17th batter that he faced. He pitched six innings on 89 pitches with six strikeouts to record his fourth win of the season.

Despite two errors, the Sabers' defense backed up Kalaola well with eight groundouts. 

"Without my defense, I wouldn't have pitched the way I did today," said Kalaola. "Our defense is pretty solid. They work on that everyday in individuals and each position. It's just the little things that probably caused us to make errors." 

Kalaola ran into some trouble in the bottom of the fifth. He walked Waipahu's Jayden Borja to leadoff the half-inning and allowed a one-out single into shallow left field to Cole Phillips. Kalaola struck out Rayson Carriaga signing for the second out, but gave up another hit to Jaron Sugimoto one batter later to load the bases. 

With two outs and the bases loaded, Matt Fiesta drew a walk to plate Borja for Waipahu's lone run of the night. Kalaola redeemed himself after giving up the score with a inning-ending strikeout on Waipahu's Kobie Russell, a University of Hawaii-Hilo commit.

"In the beginning of the inning, I think I lost the grind," said Kalaola. "I started throwing balls high, just taking off pitches. When coach came back to talk to me I just focused up and made my pitches and thats how I got out of the jam."

Saturday's contest was almost deja vu for the Marauders, who dropped to 4-5. In its 1-0 loss to the Sabers, Waipahu put seven guys on base, but could not plate a single one. 

"Almost the same scenario," said Waipahu interim coach Milton Takenaka. "We get guys on base, opportunity there, bases loaded, supposedly our best hitter to bat, but we cannot get them in. Same thing when we played Campbell the first time."

Sophomore pitcher Ayzek Silva relieved Kalaola in the final inning and denied Waipahu another hit to record his fourth save of the season.

"It was a big situation for him," Campbell coach Rory Pico said on Silva. "The last time he was out there to close a game he kind of struggled a little bit, but he did his job today."

Campbell had nine hits on the evening, but had just two runs to show for it. When the Sabers did score runs, it was because their leadoff hitter got on base to start the first and third inning.

Shane Shimizu opening the game with a double into the left-center gap with a 2-2 count. Ikaika Ganancial moved him over to third one batter later before cleanup hitter Markus Ramos brought Shimizu home with an RBI single in between first and second base.

Ganancial led off the top of the third with a deep shot into center field. Waipahu's Gabe Ballasteros misplayed the fly ball, which allowed Ganancial to reach on an error. Ganancial reached third by the time Waipahu could recover from the mistake. He later scored on Justin Fernandez's RBI single that hugged the right foul line.

"Any time you can get the leadoff guy on you should score more than 50, 75 percent of the time," said Pico. "That's one of our main objectives every game, is to get the leadoff guy on and we work from there."

Russell was charged with the pitching loss for the Marauders. He gave up nine hits and had one walk against seven strikeouts on 102 pitches. First baseman Khaine Viliamu finished up the game on the mound in the seventh inning. 

Campbell hosts Kapolei next Wednesday while the Marauders travel to Mililani next.