Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Kamehameha rallies twice to beat Punahou


  



Sat, Mar 17, 2018 @ [ 3:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R H E
Punahou 1 0000032680
Kamehameha 0 0 000133740

W: Christian DeJesus    L: Duke Clemens

KSK: Jace Borja 1-2 2 runs dbl; Javyn Pimental 5.0 IP 1 ER 8 K
PUN: Cody Hirano 1-3 run rbi trp; WIlliam Bisho 5.0 IP 0 ER 7 K


MCCULLY  Less than 24 hours after its annual Song Contest, Kamehameha played a different tune —  Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" — Saturday at Ala Wai Community Park.

The Warriors, who managed only four hits, captialized on 13 walks and five wild pitches to overcome deficits of three and two runs in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to turn back Punahou, 7-6, in a wild and crazy Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball game.

It was fitting that the Warriors' winning run scored on a fielder's choice grounder by Kalamaku Kuewa, a senior who was part of his class' sweep of the song contest the night before. Only one of the Warriors' four hits drove in runs — Mark Liberato's two-run single that tied the game at 6 in the eighth. Two other runs scored on bases-loaded walks and two others scored on wild pitches

The Warrirors (5-1-1) remain a half-game back of first-place Mid-Pacific (5-1), while the Buffanblu (5-2) fall to third.

"Unbelievable game," Kamehameha first-year coach Kahi Kaanoi said. "They did a great job of just looking for their pitch late, getting on base. We needed runners. We were down more than one run both times. That's everybody's philosophy in that situation."

For Punahou, it was not pretty. Four relievers could not hold starting pitcher Kahi Bisho's strong five innings. He allowed no runs, a hit and four walks with seven strikeouts. But he needed 81 pitches. The three relievers that followed combined to allow six runs, three hits and nine walks with five wild pitches.

"Walks were a killer," Punahou coach Keenan Sue said. "We basically gave that game away. I don't want to take away credit for Kamehameha because they battled and they hit when they needed to. They did a great job, but we gave away that game."

The walks were uncharacteristic of Buffanblu pitching. In their previous six games, Punahou walked 10 in 33 innings pitched.

"That's the first time we've walked that many batters," Sue said of the 13 free passes, though three were intentional. "The pitchers have done really well coming through in clutch situations, so that was kind of surprising. The only thing we can do is learn from it."

After Bisho's five frames, Matt McConnell started the sixth inning, allowing a lead-off single to Liberato, who then went to third on a wild pitch that catcher Ryan Nishi had a hard time finding. After Jonny Shimabukuro grounded out to short with the drawn in infield, Kuewa was intentionally walked. A wild pitch that didn't get far but allowed Kuewa to take second with Liberato holding third. But two pitches later, another wild pitch tied the game at 1 before McConnell struck out the next two batters.

It was beginning to look like the Buffanblu were going to get McConnell of the hook with three runs in the top of the seventh. Cody Hirano led off with a triple to right-center off Kamalu Tuasivi. An out later, Kyson Donahue was intentionally walked. Kalae Holt replaced Tuasivi, who was greeted by Ryan Nishi, who reached on a fielder's choice squeeze that scored Hirano and sent Donahue to second. Holt was pulled for Vance Matsumoto, who allowed an RBI single to Tsukada and squeeze by Kade Morihara before Asa Kurasaki flied to right to end the inning.

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But McConnell walked Hanu Racoma to start the inning and pinch runner Kalei Kim took third on Jace Borja's double to right. Michael Robichaux replaced McConnell and hit Mattingly Ho to load the bases. Chaesten Chon walked to force in a run before Liberato struck out. A wild pitch scored a run and moved the other runners to second and third before Shimabukuro struck out. But Punahou intentionally walked Kuewa, so Lii Pontes' walk tied the game at 5 before Vince Venenciano struck out.

Resilient Punahou looked to get Robichaux off the hook. Koa Eldredge led off the top of the eighth with a walk, stole second and scored on Ola Aina's triple to center to chase Matsumoto. Christian DeJesus came in and Hirano's sacrifice fly to center scored Aina to make it 6-4. An out later, Donahue singled and took second on a wild pitch but was stranded there when Nishi struck out.

Armed with a two-run lead, Robichaux retired the first batter in the bottom of the eighth. But he walked Borja and Ho to put the tying runs on base.

Duke Clemens came in from the bullpen and after a wild pitch that moved the runners into scoring position, he walked Chon to load the bases. Liberato's two-run single tied the game at 6 and put runners at the corners. Shimabukuro was intentionally walked to create force plays all around. Kuewa then hit a grounder to shortstop Donahue, who threw to second baseman Harrison for the force, but Kuewa beat out the relay to first to avoid an inning-ending double play as Chon scored the winning run.

"I just beat it out," Kuewa said. "I just busted my butt down the line. I just wanted to be safe."

Ironically, the game was billed as a pitchers' duel with Punahou's Bisho and Kamehameha's Javyn Pimental. Pimental allowed a run, four hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. They did their jobs to keep the game close. But their bullpens were another story. DeJesus picked up the win in relief, while Clemens was saddled with the loss.

It was a great feeling for Kuewa, who also enjoyed victory at Friday's Song Contest. There were times in past seasons when the Song Contest was followed my morning games.

"Felt good (coming into the game)," Kuewa said. "Had choke rest since we had an afternoon game (3 p.m.)."



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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