Agbayani helps lift Kaiser over Pearl City

Kaiser's Shane Agbayani took the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning and connected with it for a walk-off home run against Pearl City. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Shane Agbayani took the first pitch in the bottom of the eighth inning and promptly cranked it well over the fence in right field for walk-off home run to propel Kaiser to an 8-7 win over Pearl City, and ensured the Cougars a spot in the Division I state tournament.

"I was just looking for a fastball inside and just looking for a pitch to hit, and it just happened," said Agbayani of his game-winning home run.

Pearl City led 5-2 after two innings of play, chasing starter Noah Sakatani after just two innings, but an undeterred Kaiser chipped away at the lead, scoring 2 runs in the third and three more in the fifth inning to take a 7-5 lead.

Catcher Emmett Covello, was a monster in his first two plate appaearances, launching a deep shot to right for a home run in the bottom of the second, and followed that up with a two RBI double in the same direction in the third to account for 3 of the 4 runs plated in the early going for the second-seed Kaiser.

"Just doing what my coaches told me all year long, stay focused, drive the ball, try not to jack it, just get base hits and help out the team," said Covello.

The Chargers countered in the top of the sixth, plating two runs of its own on a Nicholas Au line single and a perfectly placed bunt by Sanyo Lo to score another, knotting the score up at 7-all.

Kaiser put the game-winning run aboard in the bottom of the seventh with one out when Covello drew his second intentional pass of the game, but Pearl City turned a crucial double play a batter later to end the threat and force extra innings.

Shawn Miyashiro, the fourth pitcher to take the mound for the Cougars, was solid down the stretch, allowing just one run in 3 innings of work, which included a textbook three-up, three-down inning for the Chargers in the top of the eighth to give the home team a chance at the walk-off.

"Brandon (Heu), Casey (Takei) and Shawn did an amazing job," said Covello. "They threw strikes which great to see and they just kept us in it and kept our team strong.

That set the stage for Agbayani's home run to end the game in the quickly deteriorating daylight and foreboding rain clouds looming.

"It was a way get to where we needed to be," remarked Kaiser head coach Ryan Umemoto of the walk-off win. "For the whole season, we've kind of struggled to play as a team and today we put so many guys onto the field, at bat, and when the guys played the way they needed to and were willing to play hard for each other."

Matt Tsutomi led the way for the Chargers with a 2-for-3 day at the plate, scoring 2 runs and driving in 2 more.

Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].