Waialae Takes the Lead in Championship Series with 8 to 5 Win Over Waipahu
Waialae beat Waipahu 8 to 5 behind the 5 RBI clutch performance of Kyle Watase and gritty pitching of Gavin Okada to take the 1st game of the Best of 3 Championship Series. The 2nd game is scheduled for Wednesday (3/16/22) 7pm at the Ala Wai.
Waipahu fell behind early and couldn’t come back in an 8-5 loss to Waialae on Sunday. Waialae scored on a single by Kyle Watase in the first inning, a sacrifice fly by Jordan Murai in the second inning, and a double by Kimo Wilinski in the second inning.
Waialae got things moving in the first inning, when Watase singled on a 3-2 count, scoring one run.
After Waipahu narrowed the score by tallying single runs in the 4th & 5th innings, Waialae answered with three runs in the sixth inning. Watase‘s triple scored Murai & Wilinski ahead of him. Mark Okano followed with a timely groundball to drive in Watase.
In the top of the 9th inning, Watase doubled to score Nitahara & Murai to widen the score to 8 to 3.
Waipahu’s Alika Kuraoka hit a 2 run homer in the ninth inning to close the scoring.
Waipahu tallied eight hits on the day, stranding 14 baserunners.. Zach Kometani and Kaiana Eldredge each collected multiple hits for Waipahu. Eldredge and Kometani all had two hits to lead Waipahu. Waipahu didn’t commit a single error in the field. Dylan Salcedo had the most chances in the field with eight.
Waialae racked up 14 hits in the game, stranding 11 baserunners. Watase, Wilinski, Murai, AD Mols, and Tyler Nitahara all had multiple hits for Waialae. Waialae was sure-handed and didn’t commit a single error. Chris Mols made the most plays with 11.
Gavin Okada got the win for Waialae. The bulldog surrendered five runs on eight hits over eight innings, striking out seven and pitching out of 3 bases loaded jams. Josh Nakamura threw one inning in relief out of the bullpen. Nakamura recorded the last three outs to earn the save for Waialae.
Kamalu Neal took the loss for Waipahu. The hurler lasted four innings, allowing seven hits and three runs while striking out two.
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WLJ | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 14 | 0 |
| WPHJ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 0 |
Waialae
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jordan Murai | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kimo Wilinski | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Kyle Watase | 5 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Okano | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Davin Morita | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| DJ Andrade | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| AD Mols | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Nitahara | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Chris Mols | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Josh Nakamura | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Gavin Okada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 40 | 8 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 5 |
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gavin Okada | 8.0 | 147 | .497 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| Josh Nakamura | 1.0 | 14 | .643 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 161 | .509 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
Waipahu
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Salcedo | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Trey Yukumoto | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Keenan Sue | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nelson Inabata | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Kometani | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Alika Kuraoka | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Dylan Salcedo | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaiana Eldredge | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Revan Wong | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Tyler Hanzawa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Justin Protacio | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Shaun Kiriu | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Kamalu Neal | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 34 | 5 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamalu Neal | 4.0 | 75 | .627 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Shaun Kiriu | 5.0 | 80 | .650 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 155 | .639 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 0 |