In a classic AJA baseball game, #2 seed Sheridan struck back after a valiant 7 run 8th inning rally by #5 Manoa to tie the game at 13 to 13 by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 8th inning on a 2 out bases loaded high bouncing infield single by Ethan Javier to drive in Josh Inaba as the time limit neared. Manoa, down 13 to 6 heading into the top of the 8th inning, batted around to score 7 runs, tying the game on a dramatic full count 2 out grand slam homerun into the Ala Wai canal by Russell Doi.
Manoa jumped ahead early in the game, scoring 2 runs in the 3rd & 4th innings against Sheridan starting pitcher Joey Maekawa. Manoa continued their scoring with runs in the 5th & 6th innings. However, Sheridan rallied to score 1 run in the 4th inning against Manoa starting pitcher Reece Kiriu, then continued their scoring against Kiriu with 3 runs in the 5th & 6th innings & 2 runs in the 7th inning. Sheridan scored an additional 4 runs against Manoa reliever Jarrett Nam in the 7th inning to take a comfortable lead heading into the 8th inning. Reggie Eiland relieved Maekawa for Sheridan in the 7th inning and battled Manoa in their remarkable 8th inning.
With the scored tied at 13 to 13 heading into the bottom of the 8th inning, Josh Inaba led off the Sheridan inning with a clutch line drive double into the left field corner. After an intentional walk to Asher Ginoza, Manoa inserted JR Bunda onto the pitcher’s mound to relieve pitcher Chris Nam. Darren Lau managed a ground ball out to the right side to move the runners over against the hard throwing Bunda. With runners on 3rd & 2nd and 1 out, Bronson Ichimura was intentionally walked to load the bases. The next batter Payton Awaya battled but finally struck out after fouling off 4 pitches. The final batter of the game Ethan Javier fouled off the 1st pitch, took Ball one then on the 3rd pitch of the at bat, hit a high bouncer in between the pitcher and 1st baseman which the 2nd baseman fielded but could not get Javier speeding down the line as Inaba scored the winning run. The game ended after 8 innings as the 2 1/2 hour time limit passed.
Sheridan was led by Javier & Jarin Kobashigawa with 3 hits and 4 RBI each. Maekawa had 3 hits while Inaba, Ginoza and Lau all contributed 2 hits each. Sheridan amassed 17 hits, scoring 14 runs with only 3 errors. Starting pitcher Maekawa threw 129 pitches in 6 innings, giving up 6 runs on 11 hits, walking 4 while striking out 3. Eiland in relief, threw 68 pitches in 2 innings, giving up 7 runs on 6 hits, walking 2 while striking out 1.
Manoa also collected 17 hits, scoring 13 runs with only 4 errors and was led by Doi with 3 hits and the dramatic grand slam home run in the 8th inning to tie the game. Colin Sakamoto also had 3 hits while JJ Kitaoka, Bunda, Ivan Fujii and Nick Wong each had 2 hits. Starting pitcher Kiriu threw 114 pitches in 6 innings, giving up 9 runs on 10 hits, walking 2 while striking out 5. Relief pitcher J. Nam threw 2/3 inning, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, walking 1. Relief pitcher C. Nam threw 1/3 inning, giving up 1 run on 1 hit, walking 1. Bunda threw 2/3 inning, giving up 1 hit, walking 1 while striking out 1.