Waialua clinches playoff berth with win over McKinley

Greg Yamamoto | SL

For the fifth consecutive season, Waialua is moving on to the league postseason, while McKinley appears primed to make its first appearance since 2018.

The Bulldogs clinched a spot in the OIA Division II playoffs with a 9-5 win over McKinley, getting a complete game from Aika Guzman and a nearly error-free performance defensively.

Nine runs scored on nine hits was actually a season-low output when on the winning side for Waialua, who have notched double-digits in its six previous victories, but it was perhaps Guzman cutting down on the number of walks that loomed large.

"I had a goal to not have any walks," said Guzman, who cut her walk total from 11 in her last outing against Farrington to just 4 today.

"A few walks is just as good," said Waialua head coach Rodney Dicion of Guzman. "You got your defense, just keep pitching the ball."

"Its her first year pitching and she's doing great," he continued. "All i teach her is the basics, we don't have any movement on the ball (yet), but she has some potential."

Getting back to the aformentioned lack of offense, any reduction was made up for with the Bulldogs' play on the field, where they committed just a single error in the game.

"Half of our team is like freshman," said Guzman. "So I'm kind of surprised that they did that good, I'm so proud of them."

"What really pumped them up was the double play on that bunt (in the fourth inning)," said Dicion. "We practice that everyday the bunt situation and they finally executed."

Two scoreless innings to open the game was followed up by a seven run spurt in the third inning for Waialua, which made the upclimb pretty steep for McKinley. In all, nine fielding errors resulted in eight unearned runs in the contest.

To the Tigers credit, they rallied to put up runs in three of the final four innings, including three in the fifth that made it a 7-4 contest, but could not get any closer.

In defeat, freshman Brandie Pahia-Obra was a big factor for the Tigers in the circle and with the bat, where she threw a complete game in the loss, striking out seven and walking just two while allowing only a single earned run, and backed her own cause with a 3 for 4 day at the dish, with a run scored and a bases-clearing double.

"That hit in the bottom of the fifth I was really proud of," said Pahia-Obra of her day at the plate. "And I thank my team for getting us out of that inning (in the third), it could have been a lot more than it was."

Despite losing six key seniors to graduation, Waialua (7-3) has picked up right where they left off in 2023, especially with the bats, averaging 17 runs per outing in seven victories.

McKinley (4-6) is enjoying its best season since 2018, where it finished with an 8-4 league record and won two of three games in the HHSAA Divison II tournament.

One more win would clinch a berth, though the Tigers could lose out and still make the playoffs should Farrington or Kahuku both fail to notch a win down the stretch.

The rest-of-the-way schedule definitely favors Waipahu (vs. Farrington, at Kalaheo, vs. Kahuku) to take the fifth seed, with McKinley tasked with a game at Aiea before home games against Nanakuli and Radford to finish the year.