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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveApril 26, 2025, 11:18pm
Sat, Apr 26, 2025 @ [ 6:00 pm ]
W: Kaleb Wada L: Kanai Pratt-Faitu
MIL: Jonah Parker 2-3 2 rbi; Kaleb Wada 7.0 IP 0 ER 6 KKAIS: Caleb Hamasaki 1-3 run dbl; Kanai Pratt-Faitu 6.0 IP 2 ER 6 K
WAIPAHU — A day after Mililani's softball team claimed a league championship, their baseball brethren did the same Saturday night.
Kaleb Wada threw a complete-game one-hitter and Jonah Parker drove both runs to help No. 5 Mililani rally past No. 9 Kaiser, 2-1, in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament at Hans L'Orange Park.
A crowd of about 500 fans on a humid evening saw the Trojans improve to 11-2 to lay claim to their fifth OIA crown and their first since 2022.
"It feels great. Last year we had a really rough year— a lot of heartbreak last year — but we're back and it feels great," said Parker, a sophomore first baseman.
It was Parker's two-run single back up the middle in the bottom of the fifth that put Mililani ahead for good — just one-half inning after Kaiser got on the board after four scoreless frames.
Caleb Hamasaki opened the top of the fifth with a double down the right field line and advanced to third on Mana Shigehara-Pang's sacrifice bunt that followed. Brennan Higa then reached on a fielding error by Mililani shortstop Malosi Mataata-Alferos to put runners at the corners. Hamasaki came home two pitches later on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jackson Wood.
On the run-scoring play, left fielder Kamea Chan caught the fly ball for the second out then unleashed a throw toward home plate that was cut off by third baseman Aukai Araujo-Waiau. Araujo-Waiau's relay throw was low and got away from catcher Ryne Yoshimura, which allowed Higa to move into scoring position.
Despite the uncharacteristic errors from the pair of three-year starters and college-bound seniors (Mataafa-Alferos is signed with Oregon, Araujo-Waiau with Hawaii) on the left side of the infield, Wada was able escape the jam by getting the next batter, Tanner Kagimoto, to strike out looking.
"I mean, it's all about playing together and having each other's backs — we cannot rely on one guy, right," Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said.
"We want our pitchers to throw strikes and let our defense play and then as a defensive group we just gotta go out and make plays, so again, if we practice harder than we play, the game's gonna be easy," Hirayama added.
Mataafa-Alferos used his bat to atone for his error with a leadoff single to short center to open the bottom of the fifth. Koa Marzo then laid down a sacrifice bunt toward the right side of the infield, which was fielded by pitcher Kanai Pratt-Faitu, but the Cougars failed to cover first base and Marzo was gifted a single. Araujo-Waiau was then beaned by Pratt-Faitu to load the bases for Parker, the Trojans' clean-up hitter.
With Kaiser's infield drawn in, Parker lined the first pitch he saw back up the middle to plate both Mataafa-Alferos and Marzo.
"It was a fastball, little bit low, but I went down and got it, flipped by hands through it and right up the middle," said Parker, who was just 2 for his last 18 coming into Saturday.
Parker did however, single through the five-six hole in the bottom of the third inning — his at-bat that preceded his two-run single in the fifth.
"I just tried to stay loose, stay aggressive. You know, if my pitch was there I wasn't going to miss it. With a big situation like that I just let it fly and trusted myself," Parker said.
Hirayama credited the left-handed Parker for consistency in approach and plate discipline all season.
"That's been him all year, as far as just trying to hit the ball up the middle and letting the ball travel a little bit, so again it's sticking with our approach and do what we do best and for him it's alley to alley and just hit the ball hard," Hirayama said.
Parker and Hirayama both acknowledged that there was little, if any, dismay when the Cougars crept ahead in the top half of the inning.
"We've been there before," Parker said. "We've fought, we didn't roll over and we just told ourselves ‘stay up, you know. One run is nothing; we can come back.' "
Given that Hirayama's squad of 30 players includes 20 seniors, he knew there would be no panic within the group despite facing a deficit.
"One run wasn't going to beat us. We just had find a way to get some guys on and figure it out and I think we had a lot of chances where we had guys on base and we didn't have good swings, so it was just making that adjustment and trying to play within ourselves and not do too much, but we gotta play seven innings so the game's not over until the last out," Hirayama said.
Wada certainly did his part on the mound. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound right-hander went the distance in a complete-game one-hitter with six strikeouts. Wada did not walk a batter. Two days after he was the winning pitcher in a quarterfinal win over Roosevelt, Wada picked up his fourth win of the season and lowered his earned run average to just 1.30.
"He wanted the ball and there's no second guessing — he wanted it from the end of the game when he came out the other day," Hirayama said of Wada, who threw 56 pitches and allowed one run on five hits in five innings of work against the Rough Riders Thursday. He struck out four that day and walked none.
"He just competes and he's got a great baseball head on his shoulders and that's the way to play the game," Hirayama added of the Waiakea-transfer.
Wada, who was perfect through four innings, faced just three more batters than the minimum and reached only three three-ball counts. Wada found the strike zone with 54 of his 78 total pitches.
"Wada did a phenomenal job. He just threw strikes, pounded the zone and that's all a pitcher has to do: let his defense work," Parker said.
Wada was not deterred by the Cougars' first-inning hit parade they put on in a semifinal rout of Leilehua Friday. They sent 14 batters to the plate and rapped out 10 runs on eight hits in the bottom of the first to pull away from the Mules early.
"I didn't really care. I just came out here and I was competing and I just wanted to give my team the best chance to win," said Wada, who credited catcher Ryne Yoshimura for crafting a game plan to mitigate Kaiser's aggressive bats.
"We were watching their games and trying to study them, so we had an idea coming into this game. I was talking it up with Yosh, so that's something that I think we did well," Wada said.
Wada (Waiakea), Yoshimura (Waipahu) and Marzo (Hilo) — who singled, drew a walk and laid down a sacrifice bunt — have each found a way to make an impact with the Trojans after transferring in to the central Oahu school prior to this season.
"They've all just fit in well with these guys and I'm sure it was a little bit of an adjustment where they felt like they had to come in and prove themselves, but at the same time these guys are a family and they work together, they play together and they have fun together, so they've fit right in and I think it's allowed them to go out and play their game the way they can," Hirayama expressed.
Wada was all smiles after the game as he enjoyed a long embrace from his mother.
"It feels amazing. That's what we came here to do and we're always striving for more," Wada said.
Kaiser coach Josh Halemano praised Wada's performance on short rest.
"Man, he's tough. I mean, how do you do that, Wada? Awesome. He did an awesome job. He bounced back from two days rest and was awesome; he did a great job," Halemano said.
Pratt-Faitu performed admirably himself in just his second pitching appearance of season. The junior lefty scattered seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts. He threw 94 pitches, 63 of them for strikes.
"Amazing. You know, I just tip my hat off to that guy. He competed and didn't quit — so awesome," Halemano said.
The Cougars, who fell to 10-3 on the season, were seeking their sixth OIA championship. They were playing in their first league final since 1993.
"I think we're just proud of the way both teams played. I mean, execution, high pressure — guys just came to play — and we didn't get to a play and it kind of cost us in the end, but you never know, anything could have happened after that, right," Halemano said, alluding to Marzo's sac bunt in the bottom of the fifth that ultimately resulted in an infield single.
Kaiser had won eight of its last nine games. It will represent the OIA, along with third-place Kailua, fourth-place Leilehua and fifth-place Roosevelt at the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Championships in Wailuku, Maui in two weeks. All four teams will open the 12-team tournament with a first-round game on May 7, while Mililani will have the luxury of a first-round bye as a league champion and one of four seeded teams.
The Trojans will begin play on May 8 in one of four quarterfinals at Iron Maehara Stadium.
"That's super huge just as far as a first-round bye because now we only gotta play three games and figure out how to win those three games and bring home the trophy," Hirayama said.
The bracket is expected to be released next week by the HHSAA.
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