Congratulations to Waialae who won the 2022 Oahu AJA Baseball League Championship with a 6-2 victory over Waipahu last night at Ala Wai Field.
Cruz pitches Waialae to Championship victory over Waipahu
Waialae pitcher Jeremy Delacruz pitched a 9 inning complete game for the win, holding hard hitting Waipahu to just one earned run on 6 hits while striking out 10 and walking one. At one point, Delacruz retired 14 straight batters from the third inning to the seventh inning.
Kimo Wilinski started the scoring for Waialae in the top of the first inning, singling then getting to 3rd on a batted groundball error hit by Kyle Watase. Gavin Okada drove in the game’s 1st run with an infield single. Mark Okano then doubled to left, driving in Watase & Okada. Waipahu answered with an RBI sacrifice fly from Kaiana Eldredge to drive in Logan Salcedo who had singled & gotten to 3rd on a single by Justin Protacio. Waialae pitcher Jeremy Delacruz buckled down to retire the side by striking out the next 2 batters and settled down to hold Waipahu scoreless until the ninth inning.
Waialae scored a single run in the 7th inning as Watase extra base hit drove in Wilinski, who got on base with his 3rd hit of the game.
Waialae continued on the offensive, scoring another single run in the 8th, with AD Mols timely single driving in DJ Andrade, who had singled and advanced to 2nd on an error.
Waialae completed their scoring with another run in the 9th as a Chris Mols single with 2 outs drove in Gavin Okada, who had singled and advanced to 2nd on an error.
Waipahu answered with a run in the bottom of the 9th inning as Alika Kuraoka scored after singling and advancing around the bases on errors. But with 2 runners on bases and the tying run on deck, Delacruz closed out the game to earn the complete game victory and get the final out on his 10th strikeout of the night.
Kamalu Neal took the loss for Waipahu. Neal lasted four innings, allowing three hits and three runs.
Justin Protacio, Logan Salcedo, Kaiana Eldredge, Chevas Numata, Alika Kuraoka, and Revan Wong each collected one hit to lead Waipahu.
Waialae collected 12 hits on the day. Kimo Wilinski, Gavin Okada, AD Mols, and Chris Mols each racked up multiple hits for Waialae. League Batting Champ Kimo Wilinski led Waialae with three hits in four at bats.
“Powered by Narrative Science and GameChanger Media. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.” Any reuse or republication of this story must include the preceding attribution.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WLJ | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 12 | 4 |
| WPHJ | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 6 |
Waialae
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drayson Ito | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kimo Wilinski | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Kyle Watase | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Gavin Okada | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Okano | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Davin Morita | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chris Mols | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| DJ Andrade | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| AD Mols | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Nitahara | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Jeremy Delacruz | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 39 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jeremy Delacruz | 9.0 | 132 | .674 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 132 | .674 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
Waipahu
| Lineup | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Salcedo | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Justin Protacio | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaiana Eldredge | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Alika Kuraoka | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Keenan Sue | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chevas Numata | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dylan Salcedo | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Derek Costigan | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Revan Wong | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tyler Hanzawa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Nelson Inabata | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Kale Kaalekahi | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Shaun Kiriu | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Kalamaku Kuewa | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Kamalu Neal | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Totals | 34 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Pitching | IP | #P | S% | H | R | ER | SO | BB | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kamalu Neal | 4.0 | 75 | .627 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Kale Kaalekahi | 4.0 | 60 | .650 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Shaun Kiriu | 1.0 | 14 | .929 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 9.0 | 149 | .664 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 |