Waipahu holds off late Leilehua rally to win, 10-7

Waipahu's Dylan Sugimoto celebrates after a win over Leilehua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Waipahu broke open a close game in the fourth inning, plating five runs to seize control of the contest, then held off a 7th inning surge by Leilehua to escape with a 10-7 victory in an afternoon affair at the Marauders' home field.

"It's a win, but it shouldn't have come to that point in the last inning," lamented Waipahu Head Coach Milton Takenaka. "Make an error here, pitchers that cannot throw strikes, shouldn't be like that."

However, a win is a win and that was great news for starting Waipahu pitcher Joshua Maglangit who picked up his first win of the season. Maglangit threw four strikeouts in the victory, as well as getting two base hits and a RBI.

"I had to come into the game throwing strikes," said Maglangit. "My first couple game wasn't good so coming into this game my key was just to throw strikes for the team. It's pretty exciting, coming off of two junk games before, it feels really good."

Marauders would get on the board late in the 1st inning after the first two outs. Tyler Enos was able to take advantage of a miscue between the Leilehua starting pitcher Brandon Smithe and the catcher. Enos originally got on base via the first walk off the game and he would score the first point via a passed ball.

Leilehua would put up their first points of the game at the top of the 3rd inning. Cody Academia was able to safely get onto first base thanks to a Marauder fielding error. A sacrifice bunt from Jared Chai put Academia in scoring position and it was Smithe's RBI single that manufactured the Mules first run. Waipahu would add a run in the bottom of the 3rd when Dylan Sugimoto stole home.

The 4th inning was all Waipahu. Maglangit wasted no time on the mound going through just four batters to put Waipahu back on the plate.

After letting Marauder Guy Villanueva get a free pass to first base, Coach Kim decided to switch pitchers and go with Jared Academia for the Mules.

That switch would not go well for the Mules as the Marauders were able to power for five runs in the 4th inning which culminated with Graysen Fuentes' 2 RBI double down center field. The score was 7-1 in favor of Waipahu at the end of the 5th.

The win improved Waipahu's record to 4-2 at the halfway point of the season, two games back of first place Campbell. Leilehua fell to 2-4.

Correction: Quotes previously contained in this story were attributed incorrectly to the wrong inidividual.