OIA Baseball
Hirayama hurls perfect game, drives in lone run to lift Trojans past Surfriders


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
April 25, 2025, 10:22pm

  

Fri, Apr 25, 2025 @ [ 6:00 pm ]

Kailua

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Mililani

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FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kailua 0 000000000
Mililani 0 0 0100X130

W: Kai Hirayama    L: Zayne Hookala

MIL: Kai Hirayama 1-2 rbi trp / 7.0 IP 0 ER 10 K
KAIL: Zayne Hookala 6.0 IP 1 ER 9 K




WAIPAHU — Kai Hirayama achieved perfection Friday night. 

Hirayama, a senior left-handed pitcher, threw a perfect game and drove in the lone run to lift No. 5 Mililani to a 1-0 win over Kailua in a classic pitcher's duel before a crowd of about 350 fans at Hans L'Orange Park. 

The Trojans (10-2) dethroned the defending OIA champion Surfriders (8-4) to cement their spot in Saturday night's championship game, where they will play Kaiser, which defeated Leilehua in the first game of the semifinal doubleheader Friday. 

Hirayama struck out 10 of the 21 batters that he faced; He struck out the side in both the top of the first and third innings. Hirayama threw 65 of his 90 total pitches for strikes, including 17 swings and misses. He registered 10 first-pitch strikes and only thrice reached a three-ball count in a game that took just 88 minutes from first pitch to the final out. 

The 5-foot-11, 165-pound southpaw said early on he felt zoned in against the Surfriders, who had won their last three games and scored a combined 25 runs during that stretch. 

"From the beginning I kind of felt like I was in a groove," Hirayama said. "I mean, I knew the defense had my back all night long and I just had to trust in what I got and what's been getting us here."

In addition to his 10 punch outs, Hirayama tallied six ground-ball outs and five fly-ball outs. 

"I think every pitch was working for me and then I just believed and trusted in my defense, let them do the job. Dugout kept me in it, everybody kept me in it, so yeah, we all kind of just backed each other up and got the win," Hirayama said. 

Hirayama noted that his batterymate, Ryne Yoshimura, calls all of the pitches and has been on the receiving end of not just each of Hirayama's six appearances on the mound this season, but every pitch he's thrown in a game this spring.

"Every single pitch," Hirayama emphasized. He credited the senior catcher for his work since transferring in from Waipahu. 

"From the beginning of the season me and Yosh have been on. I mean, working in practice, working in pitch-calling, sequencing — all that starts from in the bullpen and tonight we just brought it out here and got the win," Hirayama said. 

Yoshimura heaped the praise back onto Hirayama's shoulders. 

"I feel like I expected this from him. Every time we talk about the games, he knows what he wants to do and he just executes it so I would give all the credit to him — I'm just there," Yoshimura said. 

He did, however, wholeheartedly agree with Hirayama on the importance of the bond the two have forged toward their success on the diamond. 

"We spend a lot of time together outside of baseball, outside of practice and I think that it helps us a lot being on the same page in the game, so our communication is really good," Yoshimura said. 

Mililani coach Mark Hirayama (no relation) disclosed that Yoshimura did not have much experience catching prior to joining his squad. 

"Yosh has been huge. He came to us not really as a catcher, but (because of) just his baseball IQ and his idea about the game, we just allow him to (call the pitches)," Mark Hirayama said. "They get in rhythm and we'll make some suggestions, but for the most part it's all about their relationship together and just feeling the game, so I mean, Kai can't do it without Yosh."

Kai Hirayama had already tossed several gems this season — including a no-hitter with nine strikeouts against Campbell in late March — but he was on another level Friday night. 

"By far, this was the best I've seen Kai throw the ball," Mark Hirayama stated. "I mean, Kai's been a competitor all year. He wants the ball in the big game and he just goes up and I think tonight he kept his emotions in check and some of those three-ball counts, he comes back with a slider or curveball and with good command and that's hard to beat."

Not only did Kai Hirayama silence Kailua's bats, his RBI-triple with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning was all the offense he needed. 

Aukai Araujo-Waiau led off the Mililani fourth with a bloop single into short right field. Surfriders' starting pitcher Zayne Hookala got the next batter, Jonah Parker, to pop up on a bunt attempt for the first out. Hookala then got Kaleb Wada to ground out to first for the second out before Hirayama came to the plate. Two pitches into the at-bat, Hirayama smacked a triple to the right field fence, which allowed Araujo-Waiau to come around and score from first. 

"From the beginning (Hookala) was working the lefties off-speed, so first pitch I was sitting off-speed, he gave me a fastball. I took it down the middle and then he came back with another fastball again," Hirayama recalled. "I was geared up for that and I kind of just — I don't know, I caught it out in front, caught a good pitch and coach Mark's always been telling us, ‘get the bat out in front and good things will happen,' so it's kind of what happened tonight."

Kailua coach Corey Ishigo took ownership of the pitch call on Hirayama's three-bagger. 

"Kai and Zayne pitched a great game. One bad pitch that I called, one mistake by me lost the game," Ishigo lamented. "Yeah, I called a bad pitch. Zayne executed it, I just called the wrong pitch. It's my fault for calling that one wrong pitch."

After the postgame handshake line, Ishigo took the time to come over near the Trojans' dugout to commend Hirayama for his stellar outing. 

"I don't think he needed to get over any hurdles. He didn't give up a hit, he didn't give up a walk, he threw a perfect game in the semifinals," Ishigo said. 

In the half-inning that immediately followed Hirayama's go-ahead triple, he had to overcome a 10-pitch at-bat worked by Surfriders' clean-up hitter, Kalama Carreira. That increased Hirayama's pitch count to 65 through 4 1/3 innings. However, he got the next batter, Hookala, to pop up the first pitch he saw toward foul territory in right field, where Kamea Chun came up with a spectacular diving catch. One pitch later, Hirayama induced a soft ground ball on a check swing by Ryce Aoki that he picked up and fired to Parker at first for the third out. 

"Huge," Kai Hirayama said of the defensive sequence. "I mean, it's great for the pitch count, great for the team's energy. I mean, him making the diving play in the outfield is huge, for the energy, for my pitch count and honestly, it just kept me in the game."

Hirayama said that he recognized early on that the home plate umpire's strike zone was consistently larger than he was accustomed to, which he took full advantage of. 

"Knowing he's going to give me a couple calls, I mean, I'm not gonna give the ball right down the middle. I'm gonna try spot up on the outside and he was giving me the calls that he was calling all night, so that worked to my favor, too," said Hirayama, who improved to 5-0 and lowered his earned run average to 0.56 on the year. He has amassed 60 strikeouts against only two walks. 

Hookala registered nine strikeouts of his own. He surrendered only three hits and faced only four more batters than the minimum. Hookala threw only 76 pitches, 55 of them for strikes. He did not walk a batter. 

"I think that's the best I've seen him," Mark Hirayama said of the Surfriders' lefty. "I mean, he stayed within himself, his off-speed was on-point and you know, he's got a quick arm so the fastball jumps out of his hand and if he can keep that rhythm he's tough to beat, too."

For Kai Hirayama, it was his first outing since the Trojans suffered their first loss of the year back on Apr. 9, a 6-5 defeat at the hands of Pearl City. Hirayama struck out 11 batters in 5 2/3 innings of work, but ran into some trouble late and was charged with three runs on four hits and a walk. It was the only game in which Hirayama allowed a run this spring and it also took place at Hans L'Orange Park. 

"I don't know if it's more atone (for), but learning from how that game went and I think that one is where he got just a little overexcited. He didn't stay within himself and overthrew a little bit and the command wasn't there, so this was a totally different guy today where he was just in control of his emotions and everything from the get-go and he was able to carry through," Mark Hirayama assessed. 

Mililani will be playing in its first OIA title game since 2022, when it won the last of three straight league crowns. Kai Hirayama, along with fellow-seniors Araujo-Waiau and Skye Hyun, were freshmen on that team. 

"It feels amazing. I mean, I got all the trust in our guys. Every single one of our guys has helped us in a huge way. Everyone's energy, everyone's bonding — I mean, we are a family," Kai Hirayama said. "We're a family."

The Trojans will be trying for their fifth OIA title when they meet Kaiser at 6 p.m. in the nightcap of a championship doubleheader Hans L'Orange Park Saturday. 

Farrington will play Kapolei for the Division II title in the 3 p.m. matinee. 

Kailua will host Leilehua at 11 a.m. Saturday in the D1 third-place game. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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