Kalani leadoff hitter Hunter Lau reaches second base in an OIA East contest against Roosevelt. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

MAIKIKI - Micah Kawano pitched five strong innings of relief and No. 8 Kalani rallied by Roosevelt, 4-2 Wednesday at Stevenson Middle School field.

Combined with Kailua's loss to Moanalua, the Falcons (5-1) moved into sole possession of first place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division East at the halfway point of the regular season. Roosevelt fell to 3-3.

Winning pitcher Kawano gave up two runs, both on wild pitches, three hits and a walk and struck out four in five innings of relief of starter Harrison Moy. Moy allowed two hits in two innings, striking out one, but Kalani coach Shannon Hirai said the Rough Riders were hitting the ball hard, so he replaced Moy after the second inning. Moy had thrown just 30 pitches and is still eligible to pitch Friday against Castle.

"He looked like he was tired," Hirai said. "(Moy) didn't look himself. Knowing we have a game on Friday, we pulled him before the pitch count (rule) came into effect. We're hoping the rest (helps); he'll come in relief (on Friday)…We got some depth on the mound, so we felt comfortable bringing in Kawano.

"(Moy) was getting outs, but they were hitting him hard, so it looked like something big was going to happen (for Roosevelt)."

Moy has yet to allow a run in 17 innings pitched in four appearances, so getting pulled early came somewhat as a surprise to Kawano.

"I didn't expect to come in early, so I just wanted to make sure I could throw strikes," Kawano said. "Once I got my fastball (on the) first pitch, then I'd go to my cutter or a curve and most of the time it was working."

After striking out 18 times against Joey Cantillo in the loss to Kailua over the weekend, the Falcons were thinking the hard-throwing Hiram Kaikaina would pitch for Roosevelt, but he instead started at first base.

Losing pitcher Hostas Pang turned in five-plus innings for the Rough Riders, allowing three runs, four hits and a walk with four strikeouts. He changed positions with starting shortstop Kekoa Lima, who allowed a run without a hit, but hit three batters, in two innings of relief. He also walked one and struck out two.

The Falcons had tough time solving the finesse-throwing Pang early in the game.

"He kept the ball down," Hirai said. "We put the ball in play…He gave us problems considering we just faced Cantillo, who was throwing 89 miles an hour, so timing was an issue. To be honest, we were getting ready for Hiram. We thought with four days rest he was going to throw, seeing we had a hard time catching up with (Cantillo's) fastball."

"That first pitcher (Moy), we had a lot of good contact," Roosevelt coach AD Mols said. "That's probably why they took him out. But Micah, we've seen him, know him, he's probably their best reliever. He threw two pitches for strikes, so we tip our cap to him. He battled and got ahead of our guys. I don't know if it's the pitch-count rule, but a lot of guys are going with two (pitchers). Not too many guys go with one guy the whole game. Talking to Shannon (Hirai), he's trying to piece together a rotation, too, so we kind of expect that."

This was Pang's first stint in a starting role.

"This was Haus' first start," Mols said. "So that was encouraging.

Kawano actually got off to a shaky start when he took the mound in bottom of the third inning. He walked Pang and courtesy runner Riley Tanimura took second on Rylan Terakawa's sacrifice. Tanimura went to third on Jared Tamashiro's single to left. With runners at the corners with one out, courtesy runner Chase Iwamuro was caught stealing second. But Kawano's next pitch was wild, allowing Tanimura to score before Lima grounded out to third to end the inning.

The Rough Riders added to their lead in the fourth. With one out, Koby Brown singled, stole second, took third when Cameron Oshiro grounded out to second and scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0 before Kawano struck out Noah Nakamura.

The Falcons cut their deficit in half in the fifth against Pang. Marquis Morgan singled with one out, took second on a wild pitch, advanced to third when Logan Cabbat bounced out to the pitcher and scored on Ian Higa's single to right to make it 2-1. After pinch runner Travis Tagad stole second, Kekoa Gabriel lined out to short to keep the damage to a minimum.

Kalani took the lead in the sixth. Hunter Lau led off with a single and stole second before Kohl Suehiro walked to chase Pang from the mound for Lima. On a 1-0 pitch, the Falcons pulled off a double steal. Catcher Tamashiro's throw sailed into left field, allowing Lau to score. Left fielder Makalii Lilly misplayed the errant throw that allowed Suehiro to take third. After Travis Toyama struck out, Lima hit Bronson Matsumoto and Chad Kagawa with pitches to load the bases. Morgan then grounded out to short to bring in the go-ahead run and put runners at second and third. Cabbat walked to load the bases, but Higa rolled out to first to end the frame.

"We've been trying to play clean baseball," Mols said. "Except for that one play (the double steal and two errors), so that hurt a little bit, especially we know Kalani. They get a couple guys on, they're going to play small ball."

The Falcons insured their lead in the top of the seventh. Lima hit Justin Gatewood to start the inning, the third HBP of the game for the Roosevelt pitcher. Gatewood went to second on Lau's sacrifice, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Suehiro's sacrifice fly to left before Toyama struck out.

In the home seventh, Brown led off with a single, but Kawano retired the next three batters in a row, striking out the last two to end the game.

"These are the kind of games we like to play," Kawano said. "The grind. Close games like this are always fun to play."