Lii Pontes pitches six strong innings of one-hit ball before giving way to the bullpen to save it in a wild top of the seventh. CJ Caraang | SL

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CJ Caraang | SL

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MANOA — Lii Pontes pitched six strong innings of one-hit ball and No. 2 Kamehameha beat Kalani, 3-0, in the opening round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I baseball tournament Wednesday night at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Warriors (15-6) will take on defending state champion and third-seeded Baldwin in the quarterfinals, 4 p.m. Thursday at Murakami.

Winning pitcher Pontes allowed an infield single and walked two with four strikeouts before giving way to Hunter Breault in the seventh. Breault struck out the first two batters, but gave up a single to Bronson Matsumoto, hit Micah Kawano with a pitch and walked Travis Toyama on five pitches to load the bases. Breault was lifted for Francis Gora, who struck out pinch hitter Justin Gatewood to end the game.

After getting the first two outs, Breault might have been too hyped seeing that the end was near.

"I think was just, ‘Whew, I'm almost done. One more'," Kamehameha coach Tommy Perkins said. "That's one of the things I told him you have to work on. Otherwise, I'll take the win."

Kalani's Harrison Moy pitched six innings, was charged with three runs (two earnred), six hits and two walks with nine strikeouts in taking the loss.

The Warriors took a 1-0 lead in the third thanks to the bottom of the order. No. 8 hitter Dylan Salcedo led off with a double to left and courtesy runner Gora scored on Hunter Fujitani's single to left. Fujitani took second on the throw home, but Logan Salcedo grounded out to short.

Kamehameha added two in the fourth. Wilhelm Cordes drew a a walk with one out and an out later, took third on Jesse Awa's single to right. With runners at the corners, the Warriors pulled off a delayed double steal with Cordes scoring while Awa eluded a tag during the rundown to steal second. Dylan Salcedo reached on a two-base throwing error by shortstop Hunter Lau that scored Awa before Fujitani flied out to left.

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There were two bizarre plays that hampered Kalani. 

In the top of the third, Moy led off with a single to third and was lifted for courtesy runner Travis Tagad. With the runner going on the pitch, Logan Cabbat hit a comebacker to Pontes, who threw out the batter. But as the play ended, Tagan started running back toward first and was tagged out by the shortstop Kawai Takemura, who took the throw from first baseman Fujitani.

In the fourth, an identical play happened again. With one out, Chad Kagawa walked, but after Bronson Matsumoto grounded out to third, Kagawa also headed back to first and was tagged out by Takemura for the third out.

In both instances, Kalani coach Shannon Hirai said the runners thought the batted balls were in the air.

"The runners thought it was a line drive and they caught the ball," Hirai said. "We go over that in practice. Why go back? You're going to be dead out any how. You might as well stay there until somebody tells you you're out."

Kamehameha second baseman Logan Salcedo was perplexed each time he saw the runners retreat to first.

"What's happening?" Logan Salcedo said. "We saw them stop and go back."

Meanwhile, Moy was giving the Warriors fits with his nine strikeouts. The top four batters in the Warriors order were a combined 2 for 12.

"I feel sorry for Harrison (Moy)," Hirai said. "He pitched a hell of a game."

Meanwhile, the Warriors had shaken up their lineup after their losses to Saint Louis in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu postseason. Perkins switched Logan Salcedo from the No. 2 to spot to leadoff with Takemura. He also added three new starters in Micah Kinoshita in left, Jesse Awa at third and Fujitani at first. Awa was 1 for 3 with a steal and run scored and Fujitani was 1 for 2 with an RBI.

"We shook it up a little to make something happen," Perkins said. "The guys that we had in there, they did what they needed to do. They kind of picked it up where we struggled on the top side."

Pontes was his usual steady self on the mound.

"Lii did a fanstastic job," Perkins said. "He's steady. He had good composure on the mound. Usually we let him hit, but we wanted him to just focus on throwing today."