Wednesday’s opening-round action at the Wally Yonamine/HHSAA Division I was as breezy as expected at Ichiro “Iron” Maehara Stadium.
Wind blows in from right field (shore) to home plate at times, knocking down bloopers hit that way. Wind also will go cross from right to left field. Yesterday, bloopers fell quickly in right. Today, the ball is carrying out to left — better for fly-ball hitting teams (Hilo).
Maui pitcher Alika Aheong was superb last night until running out of gas in the late going. Maui News sportswriter Rob Collias says Aheong has been a bulldog all season for the Sabers. With a little offensive support, things might have turned out differently. Instead, MPI was resilient and got clutch hits by pinch hitters Joshua Donovan and Harrison Kam in the bottom of the sixth, leading to a four-run onslaught.
Kudos to Aheong, though. The grit he showed last night, along with some impeccable pitching, makes him an all-guts player in my book. All heart, too.
We’re in the top of the fourth in the first quarterfinal game today. Mid-Pacific has rallied to tie it at 3 against Hilo. Great battle so far. One of the Owls’ runs came on a slicing line drive by lefty Jordan Obata that picked up extra English from the wind, glanced off the center fielder’s glove, and turned into an inside-the-park home run.
I’ll post updates here on Prep World a little later.
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