Kailua and Moanalua tied up at 6-6 as darkness falls

Moanalua's Tim Arakawa attempts a throw to first base around the slide of Kailua's Kory Sasaoka. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Wednesday's huge O'ahu Interscholastic Association baseball showdown between Kailua and Moanalua ended in an unusual 6-6 tie after distant lightning caused a 40-minute delay resulting in the game being called due to darkness.

Both teams are now 8-0-1 and remain tied atop the OIA's Red Conference Eastern Division standings. They play again at 3:30 p.m. Friday at Kailua.

Moanalua had runners at first and second with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning when a bolt of lightning was spotted in the distance off Pearl Harbor. Under National Federation of High School Athletic Association guidelines, such visible signs of lightning require a 30-minute delay with both teams taking shelter.

The teams returned to the field at 6:35 p.m. and Kailua was given an extra 10 minutes to stretch and warm up. But after two warm-up pitches sailed to the backstop, the home plate umpire called the game due to darkness.

In the OIA, non-playoff games are allowed to end in a tie.

"Five more minutes and the game could have been done," said Na Menehune coach Scott Yamada, whose team had Myles Higa (2 for 3, RBI) at the plate and leadoff batter Michael Egami (1 for 2, 3 RBIs) on deck. "Now it comes down to one game (Friday)."

Moanalua had rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie it at 5-5 in the fourth inning, and then tied it again in the sixth after the Surfriders had gone up, 6-5, in the fifth.

Kailua had taken a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Kila Zuttermeister's two-run double and a two-out infield error, then made it 5-0 in the third on Eliia Davidann's two-run double.

But Na Menehune tied it in the fourth after Jordan DePonte's RBI groundout, Higa's run-scoring single, Egami's towering two-run triple off the center field fence and a balk that brought Egami home after it was ruled a hidden-ball trick that tagged Egami out was illegal due to the pitcher being on the mound.

The Surfriders took the lead back in the fifth after three straight one-out singles by Alika Ramseyer-Ho, Zuttermeister and Bryson Dymond, but Moanalua tied it again in the sixth on Egami's sacrifice fly that scored James Higa with two outs.

In the bottom of the eighth, James Higa led off with a single to left field and DePonte followed with a bunt single. Kailua coach Corey Ishigo then walked out to the mound to talk to reliever Ryan McMonigle, but the lightning bolt was spotted in the distance and the game was suspended at 6:05 p.m.

Ramseyer-Ho and Zuttermeister each went 2 for 4; James Higa went 3 for 4 and Bronson Shim went 2 for 3 for Na Menehune.