Rivals Kaiser and Kalani are battling on a windy, cloudy afternoon in Hawaii Kai. Rivals? One assistant coach has already been tossed and it’s just the second inning. Kalani (9-1) is ranked No. 5 in the Star-Advertiser Baseball Top 10.
Kamau Simeona of Kaiser versus Connor Zalewski of Kalani.
1st
Reece Kakugawa of Kalani doubles with two outs but is stranded.
Keoni Pangan leads off for Kaiser with a swinging bunt for a single. With one out, Lincoln Lima bunts for a single and Pangan goes all the way from first to third.
Zalewski picks off Lima on a classic fake-to-third-throw-to-first move. Two outs. Kainoa Torres follows with a ground single to right, scoring Pangan from third. KAIS 1, KLN 0.
Home-plate unpire warms Kaiser’s bench twice during the first inning.
2nd
Simeona on a tear, striking out two more Falcons. He now has four K’s. Kaise’s bench is warned again, and now an assistant coach is ejected.
Bottom of the second
Kainoa Craig strikes out, but reaches on a passed ball and advances to second on the catcher’s throwing error. But Craig is stranded at second.
3rd
Kohl Suehiro leads off with a single to left, advances on Kyle Sasano’s sac bunt and scores on Hunter Lau’s single to center. KAIS 1, KLN 1.
Jarryn Wee follows with a grounder to short, throw to first off the bag. Kakugawa walks and Zalewski grounds to short, bringing Sasano home from third. KLN 2, KAIS 1.
Simeona fans Matsumoto after a long battle for the third out.
4th
Simeona whiffs two more and now has seven K’s.
Kalani ties it up. Torres leads off with a single to right and moves to second base on an errant pickoff throw by Zalewski. Emett Garcis’s one-out single to left scores Torres from second. TIE 2-2.
Craig singles to right and Kennedy Chun singles to left, scoring Garcia from second. KAIS 3, KLN 2.
5th
Sasano proving to be a thorn in Simeona’s side. He leads off with a walk, advances on. A groundout and moves to third on a passed ball. He scores on a sac fly to left by Wee. TIE 3-3.
Cougars respond again. Lima with a one-out single to left, advances to third on a two-out double to right by Emmett Covello and scores on a fielding error by Kalani SS Wee. KAIS 4, KLN 3.
6th
Payton Awaya walks with two outs, but Simeona strands him. 9 K’s, 4 BB by Simeona.
Kaiser adds a big run. Antonio Omphroy walks and moves to second on a passed ball. Another errant pickoff throw by Zalewski allows Omphroy to reach third. Simeona helps his own cause with a triple to left. KAIS 5, KLN 3.
Zalewski leaves after 5 2/3 innings, 4 K’s, 1 BB. Chris Nam fans Lima for the third out.
Between innings, Pangan is ejected from the game. Ump says he had been warned once. A Kaiser fan is threatening the umpire. Again.
I’m hearing a second Kaiser coach has been ejected, father of the player who was heaved.
7th
Two errors help Kalani score s run. Suehiro scores on a two-out single by Kakugawa, but Simeona gets Zalewski to pop out for the final out.
Kaiser improves to 4-6 with the upset win and may have found some momentum heading into the final two games of the regular season, and the playoffs.
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