Baseball

During the drudgery of the pandemic, with nothing open and virtually everything off limits, DJ Akiyama’s refuge was hiding in plain sight. The batting cage was his sanctuary. Thousands of residents drive by it every day in Aiea. They probably missed the 6-foot hitman taking his cuts, hour after hour, day after day. “It’s pretty much a therapy thing,” Akiyama said after going 3-for-3 with three RBIs in Aiea’s 8-6 come-from-behind win over Campbell on Friday afternoon. “It’s just I […]

This was a test of the emotions, a preponderance of numerals in any normal baseball scorebook. Kaiser’s 12-11 win over Campbell, decided by a bases-loaded error in the bottom of the seventh inning, was not quite as rip-roaring as ‘Iolani’s recent 18-17 softball extravaganza with Maryknoll. But the emotions churned as Kaiser rolled up 11 runs in the bottom of the second inning, saw a 10-run lead evaporate, only to push the game-winning run across the plate in a fitting […]

The rain fell at 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday and would not stop. Not for game time, 3 p.m., and certainly not for the rest of the afternoon on the bucolic slope of Kailua’s baseball field. The game was made up by Thursday afternoon under a sunny sky. The lush foliage in view from home plate is the best of both worlds for all baseball and nature lovers. The base paths, though, didn’t heal themselves from the downpour. When the ponding […]

The Castle Knights are kings of the road in 2021 A team this young, without a normal home field to practice on, will test the mettle of any coaching staff. The Castle Knights choose to go with the flow. In their 13-2 loss to Farrington, the home-tam Knights found themselves at Joey DeSa Field, where the Governors play home games and practice. They cheered every strike thrown by their young pitchers. They were stoked with each base hit against Farrington’s […]

Seven of his teammates are preparing to play college baseball next season, so Makani Tanaka just might be among the best No. 8 hitters in any ILH lineup. The 6-foot-2 left-handed junior had a day on Friday, tying the game with a two-run triple in the second inning, and contributing to ‘Iolani’s go-ahead fifth inning with an RBI single. The Raiders’ 6-3 comeback win over Damien was tougher than the final score might indicate. Tanaka took it all in stride. […]