Kailua's Joey Cantillo throws a pitch to plate against Kalani. The Surfriders' left-hander struck out a career-high 18 to beat the Falcons, 5-0, to pull into a tie for first in the OIA East. Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAIPAHU - A sign of a good pitcher is his ability to rebound from a bad outing.

Coming off one of his worst starts from a week ago, Joey Cantillo bounced back with a career-high 18-strikeout performance to help No. 8 Kailua beat No. 10 Kalani 5-0, Saturday night at Hans L'Orange Park.

A four-run second inning, which included a two-run double by Cantillo (who was 3 for 4), helped the Surfriders (4-1) pull into a tie for first with the Falcons (4-1) in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I East in the Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week.

In a 10-8 loss at Castle on March 4, in which Cantillo had a no-decision, he lasted just 2 2/3 innings, allowing six runs (three earned) with eight walks, despite not allowing a hit.

"We were hoping (he would rebound)," Kailua coach Corey Ishigo said. "He put in his work during the week. He wasn't upset, angry for having that bad outing last week. That's the kind of player Joey is and we were expecting something like this to happen."

Added Kalani coach Shannon HIrai: "Corey (Ishigo) said he'd never seen anything like that when he threw against Castle. That was the trouble for us because he being a competitor, you knew he was going to come back a lot stronger and he sure did."

Against the Falcons, Cantillo was a strike-throwing machine. Of the 111 pitches he made, 89 were for strikes (36 swings and misses). He allowed two clean singles by Kohl Suehiro and Marquis Morgan and walked two. Although the new pitch-count rule caps pitchers at 110 pitches in a game, they are allowed to go over if the situation occurs in mid-count of a batter. After running the count full, Morgan was called out on strikes to end the game. A total of 21 of the 26 batters he faced had first-pitch strikes. 

"Joey puts in his work," Ishigo said of extending Cantillo's pitch count. "This is the most we've ever throw a pitcher since we've been doing NPA (National Pitching Association guidelines) working with pitching coach Tom House. Joey puts in all the work so we can extend him a bit because he's going to be out there tomorrow, grinding. He's going to put his foot pounds back into his body and that's what he needs to do tomorrow."

The conditions were perfect for a high strikeout game for a hard-throwing pitcher, who topped out at 89 mph by one scout. The game started at twilight, which usually makes it tough on hitters to pick up pitches.

"I think he was on, but twilight didn't help us," Hirai said. "We had a little advantage because we played at twilight against Kaiser, but at the same time, we're not used to to it, honestly…He threw a great game. Hats off to him."

The left-handed Cantillo retired the first 10 batters of the game, striking out nine before Suehiro lined an opposite-field single to right. He retired the next five in a row until he pitched into and out of trouble in the sixth, when the Falcons loaded the bases with one out. But Cantillo battled Travis Toyama in an eight-pich at-bat that resulted in his 15th strikeout. Cantillo then killed the threat by striking out Bronson Matsumoto.

"It's just us executing our pitches," Cantillo explained about his battled with Toyama, the No. 3 hitter in Kalani's batting order. "We know what we want to throw there, hitting our spots. He's a good hitter, kept battling. It's lucky we got him in the end there. It's good stuff."

Cantillo got the first two outs in the top of the seventh before walking pinch hitter Travis Tagad, who ran a full count. With a full count on Morgan, Cantillo got the Falcon first baseman looking to end the game.

The Falcons did well on the mound, too, except for the second inning. Kalani starting pitcher Edward Lee struggled with Kailua's bottom half of the order. Sixth-place hitter Kalua Neves led off with a flare single to left and his courtesy runner Nicholas Faulkner took second on Andrew Nakashima's sacrifice before Dayne Ishigo walked. Dakota Kadooka grounded a single to right to load the bases.

Matthew Kaleohi reached on a fielder's choice grounder to short that force a runner at second, but allowed Faulkner to score to put Kailua ahead, 1-0. With runners at the corners, Cody Riturban's flare single to right scored Ishigo and moved Kaleohi to second. After a double steal by Kaleohi and Riturban, both scored on Cantillo's line double to the right-center alley to make it 4-0 before Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo flied out to right to end the inning.

"We expect all of our players to do what they're expected to do," coach Ishigo said of the bottom of the order setting the table for big inning. "Get on base any way they can and help the team out in any way possible….It was good to see our offense give (Cantillo) some runs."

Lee exited the following inning, pitching 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs, five hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Micah Kawano followed, adding 2 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits with five strikeouts. Left-hander Jarrod Kaneshro allowed a run on two hits and a walk in one inning of relief.

After Cantillo escaped the based-loaded jam in the sixth, the Surfriders got him a run in the bottom of the frame. With one out, Kaleohi reached on a single to short and Riturban walked. Riturban broke for second on a steal attempt, but stayed in a rundown long enough to allow Kaleiohi to score on the fielder's choice. Cantillo followed with his third hit of the game, a single to center, but Kurahashi-Choy Foo lined out to center to end the inning.

At 6 feet 5 inches tall, Cantillo manages to keep his head below the clouds.

"It's a good team win, a good confidence booster for all the young guys on this team, especailly after a tough Castle game last week," Cantillo said.