Baseball

Even with one of the oddest comebacks in state-tournament baseball history, the Division II state title game between Kauai and Damien was a classic. Good defense. Kauai turned three double plays in the first three innings. Good pitching. Red Raiders pitchers Jacob Borrero and Keoua Sibayan kept a hot Damien attack — 25 runs in two earlier tourney games — relatively subdued. In the end, Kauai’s 5-4 comeback win, which included two runs in the top of the seventh inning, […]

Raise your hand if you had Waiakea and Maui playing for the Division I title in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships. If your hand is in the air, you probably should head to Las Vegas. The Warriors, with their pitching, and the Sabers, with their hitting, have vanquished the top teams in the state to get to the first all-Neighbor Island final since Waiakea beat Baldwin in 2012. Waiakea (17-2), which lost two straight to Hilo in the […]

The way the Damien Monarchs are rolling at the plate right now, the wait for Saturday’s 4 p.m. Division II state title game will feel quite long. After beating St. Francis four consecutive times to steal the ILH title and berth in the state tournament, the Monarchs have kept it going over the last two days, totaling 25 runs in 11 innings to advance to their first state baseball final in school history. Left fielder Akila Arecchi went 3-for-4 with […]

This is not the year to have a number next to the team name in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships. A day after all four seeded teams lost in the Division I quarterfinals, Division II top seed Kamehameha-Hawaii was upset by Kauai, 2-1 in 10 innings, in the semifinals on Friday at Les Murakami Stadium. Junior Christian Manera and sophomore Ricky Rego combined to hold the defending state champion Warriors (17-3) to four hits and an unearned run […]

Nobody was surprised two years ago when Campbell and its stacked pitching staff claimed the state title as the No. 1 seed in Division I. Recent history suggests that more people probably should have been. That season is the only time in the last nine years that the No. 1 seed advanced to the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships. The streak continued on Thursday night as ILH champion Saint Louis, fresh off three straight wins against […]

Kamehameha’s plan to weather a hectic week has held up through the first two days of the Division I state tournament. Last week’s rain pushed the ILH Division I championship game to Monday and the Warriors’ loss to Saint Louis gave them one day to recharge for their tournament opener. Junior Blaise Pontes threw 63 pitches while giving the Warriors six shutout innings in a 3-0 win over Kalani on Monday in the first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA […]

A prideful baseball program, the Waiakea Warriors don’t go down easy. Other programs around the state may get more attention, but for year-in, year-out results, Waiakea is right there with anyone. You have to go back to 2010 the last time the Warriors didn’t make it into the state tournament. And the final finish each year is impressive, too, the best of which was the Division I state championship in 2012. Here is a recap of those years. Pay particular […]

Free bases given up doomed second-seeded Kailua on Thursday in a 3-1 state quarterfinal baseball loss to Waiakea. More specifically, it was problems with the pitch-receive part of the game. In the scorebook, these types of miscues are called wild pitches or passed balls and there can be subtle differences between the two. They only come into play when a runner advances and the decision in the eye of the beholder/official scorekeeper. One is when the pitcher throws a ball […]