Moanalua players celebrate after a come-from-behind win over Kaiser. Michael Lasquero | SL

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SALT LAKE—Cody Isa drove in the winning runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally Moanalua (2-1) past Kaiser (1-2), 5-4 in an Oahu Interscholastic Association East matchup at the Na Menehune's field on Saturday afternoon.

The Na Menehune trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Exactly a week ago Moanalua was in a similar situation against Kailua and managed to rally to win by one run.

"It's one of those things where we started off flat and gave up some runs. I tip my hat off to Kaiser, they played a really good game and Kamalu (Simeona) threw really well," said Moanalua coach Scott Yamada.

"It was a tough game, we weren't able to put them away. I give credit to Moanalua, they kept their composure the entire game. They are tough team mentally and their coaches mixed it up and got to perform how they needed to. It's a seven inning game and they did it in the seventh inning," said Kaiser coach Ryan Umemoto.

Kaiser made some lineup changes as Steven Miyata came in to pitch for Torres, who moved to third base. Miyata struck out Greg Naguwa. Isa doubled to right field to bring in Alex Heacox and Ryne Oshiro for the winning runs.

"I needed to pick up my guys because we were down the whole game. We needed a win today," said Isa. "Stuff wasn't going our way, but later in the game we buckled down and did our jobs."

Takei reached on error as Simeona scored the first run. Covello doubled to right centerfield and Takei scored. Garcia brought in Wroe, who came in as a courtesy runner, to make it 3-0 early on.

Both teams added runs in the third inning. Garcia doubled and later scored off of Ginto's single to make it 4-0. Isa was hit by a pitch and moved to second off of Casupang's sacrifice. Tabura brought in Isa with a single to give Moanalua their first run of the game.

The Na Menehune had an opportunity to tie or take the lead in the fifth, but could not cash it in. Trim was hit by a pitch and moved to third after Tabura hit a double. Tabura, who pitched 1 and 1/3 innings was credited for the win. Simeona walked Andrew Oasay to load the bases. However, Simeona forced Kekaulike Kalua to pop out, he fanned Ryne Oshiro and forced Jarred Soriano to pop out to second.

"Kaiser is a good team and I'm happy for my team, they came through again. I don't know if I go through the whole season like this," said Yamada.

Kaiser had 10 hits for the game, Emmett Garcia led the way going 2-for-3 with an RBI and Emmett Covello went 1-for-4 with an RBI double.

The Moanalua defense hung on for the next two innings to give its offense a chance in the final inning.

Simeona pitched six innings to record six strikes and five walks.

"It was a gut feeling to take him out at that point. We were seeing that he seemed to be falling behind the batters early. We wanted to put the pressure on them and not give them a chance to come back. Well, it didn't work out," said Umemoto.

Kainoa Torres came in to pitch for Simeona in the seventh inning, but walked Tabura and Oasay. Kalua hit an RBI double to centerfield to bring in Tabura and Oasay moved to third and eventually scored on Oshiro's single. Oshiro managed to advance to second on the throw, Heacox, who came in for Kalua went to third to set up the winning scores.

Kaiser will play Kalani on Mar. 16 at Kahala, while Moanalua will host Kaimuki on Mar. 17. Both teams will meet again on Apr. 6, this time at the Cougars' field.