Waiakea survives shaky 7th to beat Kailua, 3-1

Waiakea pitcher Makoa Andres silences the crowd after striking out a batter to end the bottom of the second inning. Spencer Honda | SL

MANOA — Makoa Andres rode the roller coaster in Thursday's quarterfinals at Les Murakami Stadium.

Waiakea's senior right-hander pitched into a seventh-inning jam before moving to third base, making a throwing error to keep Kailua's hopes alive before turning a game-ending double play in the Warriors' 3-1 win against the second-seeded Surfriders to advance to Friday's semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament.

The No. 9 Warriors (16-2) will play in the 4 p.m. semifinal against Kamehameha.

Andres took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh when he walked the bases loaded. He then switched positions with starting third baseman Casey Yamauchi, who got Dakota Kadooka to foul out to first for the first out. Matthew Kaleohi then hit a grounder to Andres, whose throw sailed into right field, allowing a run to score and reloading the bases for Cody Riturban. On a 2-1 pitch from Yamauchi, Riturban hit another grounder to Andres who fired to second baseman Devin Midel, who fired to first to complete the game-ending double play.

"Amazing," Andres said. "Thanks to my backup pitcher for getting it to roll over right to me."

The double play could not have been more timely for the Warriors. On deck was Kailua's best hitter in Joey Cantillo.

"Kailua's a great team," Waiakea coach Rory Inouye said. "Cantillo's a great pitcher. We knew it was going to come down to the very last pitch. It did. But this team came together because the whole year they played as one team and picked each other up. It was good for Makoa to get that ground ball again to get the game to finish."

On the mound, Andres frustrated the No. 4 Surfriders (13-3). His only other struggle came in the bottom of the first inning, when Kailua had three singles, but no runs to show for them. Kaleohi led off with a single and took second an out later on Cantillo's flare single before Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo fouled out to third. Jalen Ah Yat grounded a single to center, but Kaleohi was thrown out at home from center fielder Gehrig Octavio to catcher Jacob Igawa. Until the seventh, it was the only time Kailua had a runner reach third base.

"Makoa, he's our ace," Inouye said. "He's our work horse since our sophomore year. He wants the ball. He wants to get us that win. Today, he pitches his guts out."

It was another day for Kailua's ace Cantillo. He went 6 1/3 innings and left after reaching 110 pitches, the limit in an outing under the new pitch-count rule. He was charged with three runs — two unearned — and four walks. He had six strikeouts.

"They're a great team and they competed just as much," Cantillo said. "No one said it was going to be an easy game."

It certainly wasn't the way the Kentucky-signed Cantillo envisioned the end of his brilliant prep career.

"It's hard, but that's baseball," Cantillo said. "Stuff like this is going to happen, but this team, we did a lot of good stuff. No one expected us to be in this position. It was a good season and I'm proud of the guys."

The Warriors cashed in on the first of four walks allowed by Cantillo. In the top of the first, Yamauchi led off with a walk, took second on a wild pitch before Trayden Tamiya popped to first and went to third on another wild pitch. Nathan Minami then lined a single to left to put Waiakea up 1-0. Minami was caught stealing second, and Jacob Igawa grounded out to second to end the inning.

Waiakea cushioned its lead in the fourth. Igawa reach on a throwing error by shortstop Kurahashi-Choy Foo, took second on a passed ball and went to third on a wild pitch after a swinging third strike to David Nakamura, who apparently lost sight of the ball and did not run to first initially and was easily thrown out. Cantillo retired the next two batters to end the inning.

The Warriors insured their lead with a combination of a walk and error in the top of the seventh. Andres led off with a walk and courtesy runner Brett Fujii took second on Octavio's sacrifice. But Fujii kept running to an uncovered third base and first baseman Stone Parker's throwing error scored Fujii.

That's when Cantillo reached the 110-pitch mark and moved to first base. Freshman Ryan Inouye came in and got the last two outs, but Kailua's rally fell short in the bottom of the seventh.

"I'm just happy for my team," Andres said. "It it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. They always back me up. They're always here for me."

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].