HHSAA Baseball
Ogasawara helps Mililani take opener vs. Kalani, 7-1


 

Wed, May 4, 2016 @ [ 10:45 am ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mililani 0 2010047112
Kalani 0 0 00010151

W: Justin Ogasawara    L: Connor Zalewski

KLNI: Hunter Lau 2-3 run; Connor Zalewski 6.7 IP 4 ER 3 K
MIL: Preston Morales 3-3 2 runs 2 rbi trp; Justin Ogasawara 7.0 IP 1 ER 3 K


WAILUKU, Maui – Justin Ogasawara felt he had his best outing of the season and it could not have come at a better time.

Mililani's starting pitcher tossed a compete game, allowing a run and five hits, to beat Kalani, 7-1, in the opening round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation Division I state baseball tournament at Iron Maehara Stadium.

The Trojans (11-5) will play top-seeded Mid-Pacific Institute in Thursday's quarterfinal at 4:15 p.m. The Falcons (12-4) will play in Friday's consolation semifinal at 8:45 a.m.

"Feels really good because I haven't pitched this well the whole season," Ogasawara said. "Having this win in the first game of states feels good. Everything that I've been practicing on paid off. I was fixing a lot of stuff during the season."

His team wasted little time backing him. With two out with a runner on second in the top of the second, the Trojans reached on a squib ground single to move Aris Nakagawa to third. Sheldon Lee and Blaine DeMello followed with flare RBI singles to right to make it 2-0.

Ryan Kono's RBI single in the fourth increased Mililani's lead to 3-0.

The Falcons managed a run in the sixth when Reece Kakugawa reached on an RBI fielder's choice. Their rally was killed by an inning-ending double play, the second of the game behind Ogasawara.

The Trojans cushioned their lead with a four-run seventh on RBI doubles from Kaimana Souza-Paaluhi and Nakagawa, as well as a two-run triple by Preston Morales, who batted 3 for 3 and scored two runs.

But the day belonged to Ogasawara.

"He just went out and had a great game," Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said. "He was around the plate the whole day and for the most part got ahead…He can command of pretty much everything today. It was a big game for him."

The Falcons had only five hits to show, but they hit some balls directly at fielders.

"I think we hit the ball hard," Kalani coach Shannon Hirai said. "We just hit them at people. Hard luck. That's the way it goes sometimes.

"But (Ogasawara) did a good job throwing strikes, trusting his defense."

Perhaps a good sign for the Trojans was that the heart of the order showed some pop at the end of the game. Souza-Paaluhi and Nakagawa were a combined 0 for 6 before their run-scoring doubles in the seventh.

"I've been waiting for it to come along," Hirayama said of the two hitters' performance. "We're going to face good pitching in this tournament and it's a matter of competing. That's all we're asking our players to do."

 

 



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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