Chase for the Championship
Waiakea tops Kailua on Oshiro walk-off


Waiakea's Ryder Oshiro connected with this pitch for a game-winning RBI double to give the Warriors a win over Kailua. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Ryder Oshiro ripped a double to right field with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to give Waiakea a walk-off win over Kailua in the opening round game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I Baseball Championships.

The Warriors were down to their final out of the seventh when Calvin Uemura singled past the shortstop to put the game-winning run aboard. Garrick Yokoe came in to run for Uemura, setting the stage for Oshiro's heroics.

"The few at-bats before that I was out in front, just opening up my hips too early. My coaches told me sit back, just use my hands and I just carried it," said Oshiro.

Oshiro galloped down towards first as the ball dropped in, Yokoe touched home base well before the throw as his teammates began flowing out of the dugout, and the celebration was on.

"They learned a lot from last year. So this year we tried to put a little more situational pressure on them, just to put a little more pressure on them. We got lucky today the kids played well, got to give credit to Kailua," said Waiakea head coach Rory Inouye.

Kailua struck first in the top of the second, as Noah Ah Yat came home for the game's opening run on a single to center by Kalei Kealoha-Machado. Noah Ah Yat scored on an error when the ball was mishandled on the throw from the outfield to spot the Surfriders a 2-0 lead.

Tyler Shimokusu scored on a balk in the second to get Waiakea on the board, and the Warriors took the lead in the third. Taylor Mondina led off the inning with a triple, and came home a batter later on a double by Caleb Freitas-Fields. A sacrfice fly by Andrew Benevides allowed Freitas-Fields to scoring the go-ahead run, prompting the Surfriders to lift starter Stone Parker in favor of Isaiah Kaeo-Cash.

"For the past few years we lost to the (eventual) state champs in the first round," said Oshiro. "But this year we just had the heart to fight and win this game."

Waiakea starter Makoa Andres struggled to find the zone in the fifth, loading the bases with two outs and the Surfriders capitalized, scoring the tying run on a wild pitch that brought home Brendan Odo.

Awa Byers cranked a shot to right that went just feet wide of the pole foul, erasing what would have been a potential grand slam. He eventually drew a walk to reload the bags, but Andres got Ah Yat to pop out to shallow right field and Trevor Shimokusu managed to hold on to make the catch despite collding with his teammate in right, to end the threat.

Andres pitched five innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits. He struck out 7 and walked 7, and added a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

"Makoa worked really hard. Right now, Makoa is throwing a real good ball," said Inouye. "He came up big, kept us there. Got us out of some big jams. And Calvin got us out of some big jams too, he's been that guy for us too."

Uemura pitched 2 innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory, allowing just one walk and striking out one.



Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].