These Bulldogs have a lot of fight

Stacy Kaneshiro | SL

To play baseball for the Waialua Bulldogs, you have to do it all.

Despite suiting the minimum number of players their last seven games, the Bulldogs are in the thick of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II race. The Bulldogs lost a heartbreaker, 8-7, to Kalaheo Saturday night in a statewide-televised game. Yet, Waialua, at 6-2, is in second place, two games behind first-place Kapolei.

The Bulldogs played with just nine players, the minimum allowed without forfeiting. That means no substitutions, no courtesy runners for the pitcher and catcher, no pinch runners, no pinch hitters, and, of course, no warming up relief pitchers.

You can fit the roster on the back of a T-shirt and not have to squint to read the names. There are 13 names on the shirt, but one is injured and three others are academically ineligible, Waialua coach George Hatchie said.

"It's tough," Hatchie said. "Not all of them are talented. We try to work around with who've we got. We've played seven games with nine players."

Hatchie hopes to get the other players just before the end of the regular season. The top six teams in Division II advance to the OIA tournament with the top three making the state tournament.

"The three players we need to get back are our key players," Hatchie said.

The players do not see the lack of players as a handicap.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].