By Wes Nakama
A wild Tuesday afternoon in ILH baseball resulted in two unbeaten teams falling and ‘Iolani sneaking into a tie for first place after rallying past visiting Kamehameha, 6-5.
The Raiders overcame an early 5-0 deficit and scored the final two runs on a single wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning to improve to 5-1, tied for first with Saint Louis. The Crusaders fell at Mid-Pacific, 4-1. MPI is now 4-1 and defending state champion Kamehameha is 3-1.
“Just another day in the ILH, it’s a wild league,” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said. “It’s an honor truly, to be able to coach in this league and compete in this league. Everybody can beat everybody, it’s a tough league.”
The Warriors definitely showed their strength early in the game, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning and extending it to 5-0 in the third on Jace Souza’s two-run homer over the right field fence and RBI singles by Greyson Osbun and Matthew Zarriello.
In the meantime, Osbun was the starting pitcher and notched three and two-thirds shutout innings.
“That’s a good Kamehameha team, they’re well-coached, and they’re not going anywhere,” Miyahira said. “Greyson … that’s a high-quality arm that’s going to make some college really happy. But our kids battled, they made some adjustments, I’m proud of them. We kind of scratched and clawed and had a few bounces go our way. I’m grateful for that.”
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Raiders were able to push two runs across on consecutive infield errors to close it to 5-2. ‘Iolani then closed it to 5-4 in the fifth after RBI singles by Cole Yonamine and Cade Ide.
In the bottom of the seventh, Mana Lau Kong reached on an infield error and was substituted by pinch runner CJ Taira. Cole Yonamine then drew another walk and came out for courtesy runner Ethan Akagi. Both runners advanced on a passed ball, and then Cade Ide was intentionally walked to load the bases.
With a 2-2 count, the next pitch hit the dirt and ricocheted off the catcher high into the air and to the backstop, allowing Taira to score the tying run and then Akagi to dash home and slide safely ahead of the throw to win the game.
“Coach Kurt told me that I’m gonna impact the game today, and at the start of the game maybe I didn’t believe him,” said Akagi, a junior who also scored a run in the fourth. “But when I was in that situation and I saw the (wild pitch), I just knew that was my moment to impact the game for our team. I saw it go up, and I kind of zoned out, I didn’t even see Coach Kurt if he was rounding me or anything. I just knew I could impact the game and win it for us, and that’s what I wanted to do.
“I just saw the ball bounce, and I took off. As soon as I saw the ball jump, I knew I had to score and I had to help us win.”
Miyahira said Akagi has the ability to make a difference in his role as courtesy runner.
“He is ‘that guy,’ he is that spark plug that will make something happen,” Miyahira said. “He brings that energy that every team needs. I’m proud of him, he’s a fearless kid who comes to work every day and just gets after it, so I’m happy for him. For us, anytime the baseball is in front of you, it’s your call. So that was his call all the way, and either way if he was safe or out, I would have been totally fine with it. He was fearless and aggressive, and fortunately it worked out for us.”
Miyahira said his four pitchers on Tuesday — Kasyn Amazaki, Cade Nakama, Makana Oniate and Lau Kong — did a good job holding Kamehameha in check, especially over the final four-plus innings.
“Kasyn kept us in the ball game, Cade Nakama, a freshman, came in and competed and did a great job (three and one-third scoreless innings),” Miyahira said. “Makana came in, and Mana … I think it was a collective team win, and we’ll take it. Hats off to our kids, they stayed in it and they believed the whole time. I think that’s the power of belief, they kept throwing jabs and they battled the whole way. I’m proud of them.”
Warriors coach Daryl Kitagawa said the Raiders deserve credit for keeping victory in sight despite the early 5-0 deficit.
“Their lineup is tough, they put together good at-bats,” Kitagawa said. “No easy outs, up and down their lineup. Credit to them.”
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