Pearl City's Agoto, Hayashi combine to no-hit Moanalua

Pearl City's Dacoda Agoto throws a pitch to plate against Moanalua in the top of the first inning. Agoto struck out the first seven batters he faced and finished with 12 Ks. Michael Lasquero | SL

WAILUKU, Maui - The 62nd Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I baseball tournament got off to a brilliant start Wednesday.

Dacoda Agoto and Devin Hayashi combined on a no-hitter to lead No. 8 Pearl City over Moanalua, 4-1, in an opening-round game at Iron Maehara Stadium. It was the first no-hitter since the 2012 championship when Waiakea's Quintin Torres-Costa and Kodi Medeiros combined to beat Baldwin, 5-2, at Les Murakami Stadium.

Agoto pitched six innings, using the maximum 110 pitches. The only run he allowed was unearned. Hayashi pitched a perfect seventh with two strikeouts for the save.

The Chargers (11-3) will play second-seeded Saint Louis in the 4:30 p.m. quarterfinal on Thursday.

"Feels good," Agoto said. "We needed this (win)."

Agoto struck out 12 and issued four walks, three of them in the sixth. He escaped a bases-loaded jam with one out by striking out two batters to keep his team's lead and no-hitter.

The tournament's pitch count left no room for controversy when coaches or MLB managers have to decide whether to pull their pitchers when they are throwing no-hitters. The maximum allowed is 110 pitches.

"We saw he was little bit laboring," Pearl City assistant coach Eric Boyles said with a laugh. "We were saved by the rule."

Agoto's six innings pitched and 12 strikeouts were season highs.

"I told him before the game that we believed in him," Boyles said. "The last couple outings he's had has been a little bit rough. But we still believed in him and we he was the guy to take the ball today."

Agoto, a senior right-hander, accepted the challenge.

"Today, we had to come strong, straight off the start," Agoto said. "That's what we did….This was a key game for us to move forward."

He had retired the first 10 batters he faced before walking Nathynn Alvaro, who went all the way to third on catcher Kody Hayashi's errant pick-off throw to first. The next pitch was wild, allowing Alvaro to score. After Taven Hathaway was hit by a pitch, Agoto retired the next two batters to prevent further damage.

Agoto faced adversity in the sixth when he issued three of his four walks and had the bases loaded with one out. But he struck out the next to batters to kill the threat.

"He loaded the bases up, but he didn't want to come out," Boyles said. "I admire him for that. He wanted to finish it and he did. He kept his no-hitter going. We kind of knew (he had a no-hitter), but we didn't want to say nothing. Some of them knew."

Pearl City scored twice off Moanalua starting pitcher Coy Sasano on an RBI single from Ethan Higashionna and sacrifice fly by Tyson Murakami in the second inning. The Chargers got single runs on the third on Ranson Aquino's run-scoring single and in the fifth on his bases-loaded walk.

Na Menehune (10-7) will play Maui at 8:45 a.m. Friday in a consolation semifinal.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].