Chase for the Championship
Kamehameha rolls Kaiser, 9-4, in tourney opener


Kamehameha's Brandon Henderson connects with a pitch against Kaiser. Henderson drove in three runs in the win for the Warriors. Greg Yamamoto | SL

MANOA - No. 4 Kamehameha saved its pitching with some hitting to take down No. 10 Kaiser, 9-4, Wednesday in a quarterfinal of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament.

The Warriors (11-7) will meet fourth-seeded Hilo in a 10 a.m. quarterfinal Thursday at Les Murakami Stadium. The Cougars (9-7) will face Maui at 9 a.m. Thursday at Hans L'Orange Park in a consolation semifinal.

Kamehameha used its ace Codie Paiva for just two innings after taking a commanding 7-2 lead after two innings  That makes Paiva, who used 37 pitches, available for the semifinals or championship should the Warriors last that long. Pitchers are allowed up to 39 outs over a three-day period or over four days.

"That was part of the plan," Kamehameha first-year coach Tommy Perkins said of hoping to support his starting pitcher early with hopes of conserving his innings limit. "But we had to be up."

The Warriors jumped on Kaiser starter Noah Sakatani for seven runs in two innings. The cashed in on two walks that scored on RBI singles from Kekai Rios and Paiva, and later got a sacrifice fly from Brandon Henderson.

Kamehameha sent 10 batters to the plate in a four-run second against Sakatani on an RBI single by Chance Arakaki and two-run single by Henderson.

With a five-run lead after two, Perkins pulled Paiva for Hunter Breault, who went 3 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, a hit and three walks with four strikeouts to get credit with the win. Taylor Torres pitched hitless ball over 1 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out one.

"I was confident our other pitchers would do well," Perkins added.

Kaiser made it interesting with two runs in the bottom of the first against Paiva, scoring on a double by Emmett Covello and on an error. The Cougars added two more in the fourth on Covello's two-run double, but the Warriors made that up with two in the top of the sixth on Makoa Mau's RBI double and Micah McNicoll's run-scoring bunt single to make it 9-4.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].