Aiea's Bronson Nekemoto comes in to score with Teron Kitashima right behind in a four-run fourth inning for Na Alii against Waipahu. Leighland Tagawa | Special to SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

AIEA — All the hard work that the Aiea baseball team has put in over the course of the year is starting to pay off.

Na Alii punched their ticket into the postseason with a 4-1 win over visiting Waipahu Wednesday afternoon and improved to 5-6 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West play with their second straight victory.

Aiea, who was in dead last in the league standings before its Saturday win over Leilehua, can lock up a home game in the 12-team playoffs with a win over Pearl City on Friday.

"The boys are excited and they're hungry," said Aiea coach Ryan Kato. "I think they feel a sense of validation for all the work (they put in). That was our first goal, to get into the playoffs, and we achieved that goal."

Na Alii sealed their spot in the playoffs behind a four-run fourth inning where they batted around the lineup after giving up the first run of the game to Waipahu in the top of the frame.

"We started to string together some hits, which is rare," said Kato. "When the hits start coming, I guess it's easy to get on the train once the momentum starts going."

Kato added that the team also turned up the bats in support of starting pitcher Kobe Kato, one of two seniors on the team.

"You could see that they were ready to play behind him, and when he gave up that run, they were kind of, ‘oh we need to step it up,' and they did. I was pleasantly surprised."

Cleanup hitter Logan Ho reached on an error with one out in the bottom of the fourth to start the flurry of Aiea hits. Senior Bronson Nekemoto drove in Treyton Takamoto, Ho's courtesy runner, one batter later with an RBI double to tie the game at 1-1.

Waipahu starting pitcher Gabe Ballesteros then beaned Teron Kitashima and gave up a hit to Chase Ling to load the bases with two outs still to go. This set up Makana Fujiyama-Tauala's two RBI single through the 5-6 hole that plated Nekemoto and Kitashima for the go-ahead scores.

Nine-hole hitter Casey Kitashima followed this up with an RBI single to score Ling for the final run of the game. The Marauders didn't allow another score to the home team the rest of the way, but the damage was already done.

"That inning was tough, you just got to tip your hat," said Waipahu acting head coach Ian Ferris. Ferris was filling in for interim coach Milton Takenaka, who was feeling under the weather.

"They made good swings and they put the ball in play and they made us work. They were able to kind of take the momentum away from us."

The Marauders, who dropped to last place in the league standings at 4-8 after suffering their fifth straight loss to close out the regular season, had the same amount of hits as Na Alii with five, but could not capitalize on opportunities thanks to a stellar performance by Aiea's defense.

Other than an error in left field on a Kobie Russell base hit that bended with the wind in the fourth inning, Na Alii's defense did their part to support Kato on the mound. The Aiea pitcher scattered five hits in a complete game effort while striking out seven batters against one walk.

Coach Kato said it was reversal of fortune from the last time the two team's played on March 11, which the Marauders won 5-1 thanks to three Aiea errors.

"The first time they put the ball in play, stressing our defense, and we broke. We made a bunch of errors. I'm glad to see we cleaned that up and we were able to make the plays."

Russell reached third base to start the fourth thanks to the lone Aiea error, but Kato rebounded nicely with back-to-back strikeouts before giving up an RBI single to Cole Phillips that plated Russell for an unearned run. Eric Lee followed that up with the Marauders' third hit of the inning, but Jayden Borja flied out to right field to end the threat.

Ballesteros was charged for the loss for the Marauders, throwing 81 pitches in four innings of work while giving up five hits and four runs, three unearned. Designated hitter Khaine Viliamu finished out the last two innings on the mound for Waipahu, who does not have control of its playoff destiny.

Playoffs?

Waipahu can still make the postseason, but its chances are slim. In order for the Marauders to have a chance at the playoffs, they will need a Leilehua loss to Kapolei on Friday and a Pearl City win over Na Alii. Should this happen, a coin flip between Waipahu and Leilehua will determine who makes the playoffs.

Both the Chargers and Mules sit at 4-7 above the Marauders with one game left on their schedule. If both teams are 4-8 at the end of the regular season, the first OIA tie-breaking procedure is head-to-head. While Waipahu split its two-game season series with both Pearl City and Leilehua, the Mules will be the fifth-seeded team from the West because they won both meetings against the Chargers.

The next tiebreaker to determine the sixth spot between Waipahu and Pearl City is quality wins over common opponents. The Chargers would get in over the Marauders in this scenario because the win total of the opponents that they defeated are higher, with the difference being a win over Kapolei (5-6) while Waipahu lost both meeting with the Hurricanes.

If Pearl City is able to sweep the season series with Aiea and Leilehua loses to Kapolei on Friday, the Marauders and Mules will sit at the bottom of the standings tied at 4-8. Since Waipahu and Leilehua split their two regular season meetings, quality wins is the next deciding factor. Both teams own a win against Mililani and each other, but would however also have two wins against a 5-7 team in this scenario. Because the OIA does not playoff ties during the regular season, the last remaining possible tiebreaker is a coin flip.