HHSAA Baseball
Six-run 4th rallies No. 3 Waiakea into Friday's semifinals


  



Thu, May 5, 2022 @ [ 1:45 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kalani 0 300000332
Waiakea 0 0 0600X680

W: Dylan Honda    L: Logan Ouchi    SV: Loren Iwata

WKEA: Joshua Ward 1-3 3 rbi dbl; Dylan Honda 6.3 IP 3 ER 5 K
KLNI: Christian Chinen 1-3 2 rbi; Takumi Hayashi 2.3 IP 0 ER 2 K


WAILUKU, Maui - No . 3 Waiakea sent 10 batters to the plate in a six-run fourth to rally past Kalani, 6-3, in a quarterfinal of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament at Iron Maehara Stadium.

Joshua Ward's bases-clearing double highlighted the six-run inning and snapped a 3-all game to send the Warriors (9-0) to Friday's semifinals.

"I was very nervous," admitted Ward. "I haven't really been hitting the ball lately. I just tried to, in the cages, just stay on top of the ball. Coaches always told me to stay on top and I just stayed on top and drove it the other way."

The Falcons (13-4) took a 3-0 lead off Waiakea starting pitcher Dylan Honda, who labored through a tough second inning, when he walked three batters, including one with the bases loaded and gave up a two-run single to Christian Chinen.

The left-hander settled down after that and lasted to one out in the seventh when Taichi Fujinaga reached on an infield single.

Waiakea's Dylan Honda throws a pitch to plate against Kalani in the second quarterfinal at Iron Maehara Stadium. Michael Lasquero | SL    Purchase image

Loren Iwata, another southpaw, walked the first batter he faced, but got Cole Amine to ground into a game-end double play for the save.

"That one inning, he had a tough inning, but he hung in there and he grinded through and we're happy with the outcome," Waiakea coach Chris Honda said of his son. "It wasn't his best outing, but he got through it."

Mason Hirata got Waiakea's scoring going with an RBI double, followed by an RBI single by Devin Garza to pull the Warriors to 3-2. After a walk to Kyson Wada, Kedren Kinzie reached on an error by third baseman Amine that allowed the tying run to score and set up Ward's three-run double.

"He clutched up with the bases loaded and that was a big hit for us," Chris Honda said. "Hat's off to Kalani. They're tough. Their pitchers neutralized our batting. We were fortunate when we loaded the bases, we got a hit at the right time."



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




Show your support

Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ScoringLive continue its mission to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage of high school sports in the state of Hawaii and beyond.

Please consider making a contribution today.

ADVERTISEMENT


IMAGE GALLERY



MORE STORIES

Damien rallies past Waianae to return to championship game

Tryten Vicari drove in Francis O'Connor for the go-ahead run with his RBI-sacrifice fly in the bottom...

No. 10 Kamehameha-Hawaii pulls away from Kauai to reach D2 final

Dominic Christensen batted 2 for 2 with a double and drove in four runs to lead the third-seeded Warriors...

Warriors rout Bears to punch ticket to D1 softball final

Peahi Grilho-Armitage fired a five-inning no-hitter and Kamehameha pumped out 13 hits to pull away from...

PAC-5 walks off Waimea to face Kapaa in D2 title game

Dahlia Gangano’s walk off single propels Wolfpack back to the Division II championship game to face...

Top-seeded Warriors blank Chargers

Kainoa Kaneshiro threw five innings of three-hit ball to lead the defending state champs past OIA fifth-place...

Crusaders clutch in hitting, fielding and pitching in quarterfinal win

Saint Louis rallies from 4-0 deficit to turn back Kailua, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals.