Roosevelt walks off Moanalua to lock up second seed in OIA East

Greg Yamamoto | SL

Roosevelt locked up the East second seed in the upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs with a 2-1 walk-off win over Moanalua.

The win was the ninth of the regular season for the Rough Riders, and was a nice bounce back from a 6-3 loss to Kailua on April 17 that snapped a five-game streak.

In the last of the seventh, Phoenix Takara drew a leadoff walk then advanced to second on an error on Mackenzie Doi's sacrifice attempt that allowed both runners to reach safely.

On the next at bat, Riki Uyeno's bunt attempt resulted in another fielding error, allowing all three Rough Riders' runners to advance yet again.

That set the stage for Bryson Rubio, who laced a line drive single to center on an 0-1 pitch to bring in Tai Pham, who came in to pinch run for Takara, with the game winner.

Rubio's hit was just the third in the game for Rough Riders, and just the sixth in the entire game, all of them singles.

Five fielding errors loomed large for Moanalua, factoring into both runs scored by Roosevelt.

Nathaniel Kurano and Xavier Pressley were both solid for the Rough Riders, with Kurano going four innings, allowing one earned run on two hits and Pressley throwing three innings of scoreless baseball.

Moanalua's trio of pitchers were led by Coy Sasano, who allowed just one unearned run on two hits in five innings of work.

With the loss, Na Menehune fell to 7-5 in league play, but are assured of no lower than the fourth seed in the playoffs.