Chase for the Championship
Kapihe fires three-hitter to lead No. 1 Campbell over Moanalua, 6-2


Campbell's Jake Mendoza slides into home plate safely in the Sabers' win over Moanalua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

MANOA - All Kila Kapihe wanted was a lead and he would take care of the rest.

Led by Dorrien Villanueva-Hermosura's two early RBIs, No. 1 Campbell, the top seed of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament, provided enough offense and Kapihe kept his word in beating Moanalua, 6-2, in Thursday night's quarterfinals at Les Murakami Stadium.

Campbell (14-2) will take on No. 4 Kamehameha (12-7) in Friday's 7 p.m. semifinal at LMS.

The 5-foot-8 right-handed Kapihe threw 123 pitches in his three-hit complete game performance. The two runs he allowed were unearned, when the Sabers committed two errors in the fifth inning. He walked three and struck out six.

"Actually, I told my defense, individually, I would love to have room to breathe," Kapihe said. "‘Can you give me room to breathe?' I promised them I would make my pitches and they did. And I thanked them for that."

With this being Kapihe's last high school career start on the mound - he will play third base the rest of the tournament - Campbell coach Rory Pico planned to extend the senior's outing.

"As long as he felt good, as long as his stuff was still good, he was going to stay in," Pico said. "Moanalua took some good swings, but he was still making pitches. He was missing a lot of close calls. He's a bulldog."

After giving up a one out single to Kenji Yamaguchi in Moanalua's two-run fifth, Kapihe retired the last eight batters in a row to end the game.

Less fortunate was Moanalua starting pitcher Skyler Yamamoto, who did not get offensive or defensive support. He allowed five runs, three unearned, five hits and a walk with one strikeout in 3 2/3 innings.

The Sabers wasted little time giving their pitcher the lead. In the top of the first, Bula Sprinkel walked on four pitches and took second on Jobe Ferdinand Ibana's sacrifice. After Ian Kahaloa was hit by a pitch, he and Sprinkel executed a double steal to set up Villanueva's sacrifice fly to center that gave the Sabers a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Kahaloa doubled to left with two out and scored on Villanueva's single down the right-field line to make it 2-0.

The roof caved in on Na Menehune in the fourth, again with two out. Three errors in the inning allowed the Sabers to score three times. The only RBI came from Ibana's triple.

With a 5-0 lead, the Sabers committed two throwing errors in the bottom of the fifth that led to two unearned runs to pull Na Menehune to 5-2.

But Campbell insured its lead in the sixth when Keola Himan tripled to left-center and an out later, scored on pinch hitter Darren Gallano's single to make it 6-2.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].