Pearl City starter Chevas Numata pitched the Chargers to a 7-1 victory over Mililani. Stacy Kaneshiro | SL
WAIPIO - Chevas Numata trusted his fastball and defense to lead Pearl City over Mililani, 7-1, Saturday at Patsy Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park.
The win earned the Chargers (7-1) a split of the two-game series and gave them sole possession of first place in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association Red West, a game ahead of the Trojans (6-2), who beat the Chargers Wednesday, 9-6, at Pearl City.
Numata scattered five hits and three walks, while striking out five, for the complete-game victory. He deftly pitched in and out of jams, stranding 10 Mililani runners over six innings. His only perfect inning was the seventh.
"I felt strong today," Numata said. "I trusted my defense today. They're always behind my back."
Four times he put the lead-off runner on, but escaped damage. His defense made some nice plays to deny the Trojans. Ironically, Numata's two-base throwing error with one out in the fourth was eventually cashed in on a RBI-single by Dustyn Cook for the Trojans' only run.
"I was throwing mostly fastballs," Numata said. "That was my go-to pitch today. Usually it's my curveball, but I was trusting my fastball today."
Numata was basically a gamer in his outing.
"He struggled a little bit, but he came through," Pearl City's first-year coach Mitch Yamato said. "He's not, I would say, a true pitcher. But he loves to pitch. He's all-around, pitching, catching. He does more than what we ask of him."
The Chargers backed Numata's pitching with an 11-hit assault of Mililani pitching. Mikey Asamura allowed four runs (three earned), six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in five innings for the Trojans. Kanoa Hironaka didn't fare any better, allowing three runs (two earned) in two innings.
Troy Barbosa-Scanlan led the Chargers attack by driving in three runs in a 2-for-3 game. He hit a homer to left to lead off the fifth inning and had a two-run single. Sheldon Milan was 3 for 4.
The Chargers staked Numata to a 2-0 lead before he even took the mound. Kai Kealoha led off the top of the first with a single and scored on Tyler Tokunaga's double to left. Tokunaga eventually stole third and scored on brother Tanner Tokunaga's sacrifice fly to right.
Pearl City� made it 3-0 in the third, scoring on an error by Mililani.
The Trojans got their only run from Numata's error in the fourth, but the Chargers got that run back on Barbosa-Scanlan's homer in the fifth to make it 4-1.
The Chargers added three in the sixth on an RBI single by Numata and Scanlan's two-run single.
The game was televised live on OC 16.