Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Leilehua comes from behind to defeat Mililani


  



Fri, Apr 6, 2018 @ [ 3:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mililani 0 410000554
Leilehua 0 0 0620X892

W: Zane Staszkow    L: Kody Okumura

LEI: Christian Ontai 1-4 run 3 rbi; Zane Staszkow 4.6 IP 0 ER
MIL: Korrey Siracusa 1-2 3 rbi trp; Ryan Ancheta 3.0 IP 2 ER


WAHIAWA — Zane Staszkow threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings of one-hit ball in relief and Christian Ontai drove in three runs to help Leilehua rally to an 8-5 win over visiting Mililani at Wahiawa Middle School field Friday afternoon.

The Mules improved to 6-5 on the season with their third consecutive win, while the Trojans suffered their third loss in four games to fall to 6-4.

Leilehua now trails Mililani and Pearl City for second place in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West standings by just one-half game heading into the final week of the regular season.

"We just tried to put together good (at-bats), stack ‘em up and that's what we did and we had clutch hits to, I guess, put ‘em away at the end," said Leilehua coach Spencer Omalza, whose team was coming off a 13-inning win over Pearl City Thursday.

"We just had (to) grind, grind every at-bat. Everybody's tired, but you just gotta push through."

The Mules overcame a five-run deficit Friday and scored eight unanswered runs. They took advantage of four errors by the Trojans — all of them coming in a six-run fourth inning.

"This give us a lot of momentum going forward," said Ontai, a senior center fielder and leadoff batter. "I mean, mentally some of us were drained from (Thursday's) game because we played thirteen innings and coming back from down five runs (Friday) just boosted our momentum even more."

Mililani held a a 5-0 lead after three innings, but the first six Leilehua batters reached base in the top of the fourth. After Ty Yukumoto drew a bases-loaded walk to score Nathaniel Dela Cruz, Ontai cut the Mililani lead to 4-3 with a two-RBI single to right field to bring home Masen Reis and courtesy runner Makana Fukumoto.

"That was a curveball and I knew they were going to throw me off-speed all game," Ontai said. "I knew they weren't going to give me anything good so I just looked for it and waited for it and took it to right field."

Mason Yamashiro then drew a walk to once again load the bases for Jerin Poopaa-Adaro, who was hit by a Ryan Ancheta pitch to push across the tying run in Yukumoto. Ontai eventually scored on a Kaika Cordero RBI-fielder's choice.

Cordero hit a ground ball to Trojans shortstop Bryce Yonemori, who took it himself to get the force out on Poopaa-Adaro at second base for the first out of the inning. However, his ensuing throw to first in an attempt to complete a double-play was off target and got by first baseman Ethan Thomas, which allowed both Ontai and Yamashiro to score to give the Mules a 6-4 lead after four innings.

"It just shows that our guys are learning to let the pitches come to them, we're not chasing out of the zone as much as we were and taking the walk when it's given to us and stressing the next guys up," Omalza said.

Leilehua added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth.

Dela Cruz led off the bottom half of the inning with a walk and Reis followed with a first-pitch single. Both runners moved into scoring position on Jaxon Hotta's sacrifice bunt before Dela Cruz scored on a pinch-hit single by Aiden Romero. Reis advanced to third on the Romero hit and scored one batter later on an Ontai groundout to the right side of the infield.

All nine of the Mules' base hits were singles — by nine different players.

"Everybody did their part and we just picked each other up," Ontai said.

Staszkow was the winning pitcher after taking over for starter Kaleo Nishimoto with one out in the top of the third inning. Nishimoto issued five walks with a single strikeout and charged with four earned runs on four hits.

"I just wanted to throw strikes and keep as many runs from scoring as I could and I don't know, I just was doing really well today," Staszkow said. "I was getting more confident as I went along. The first couple innings I was kind of nervous, being down five-zero, but I started getting in a groove the last couple innings."

It was Staszkow's fourth appearance in a game this season. The junior right-hander had his longest outing of the season to improve to 2-0 and lowered his earned run average to 3.46.

"That's the Zane we know. It's been a little while for that Zane to come back for us, but we've always known that that's him. He throws strikes, the ball comes out really good out of his hand and he just forced guys to make contact — that's just our philosophy — we want them to put the ball in play and trust our defense to get the outs," Omalza said.

Staszkow walked two batters, but was aided by a pair of double plays from his middle infield and one Mililani base runner caught stealing by Hotta behind the plate.

Mililani posted a four-run top of the second inning to draw first blood.

Micah Kaohu led off the frame with a walk and Ethan Thomas moved him over with a sac bunt. Bryson Arakaki drew a walk and Zach Lafata followed with a single to center field. Kaohu took third on the hit and was waved around after a fielding error by Ontai in center. Nishimoto then got leadoff batter Shea Yamaguchi to pop out to left field for the second out, but he walked John Richard Suehira to load the bases. After taking a pair of pitches from Nishimoto for balls, Korrey Siracusa hit a shot to deep right center for a three-run triple.

Kaohu hit a one-out double in the Mililani third and scored two batters later on a Leilehua error.

The Trojans used four pitchers in the loss.

Ancheta allowed five hits in three-plus innings of work. He walked two, struck out one and was charged with two earned runs, four total.

"We gotta play better with a lead. I mean, how can you come out and not throw strikes when you've got a five-run lead? And then (Leilehua) did a great job, chipped away, got back in it and we let them put guys on base and we couldn't field bunts and get outs — that's our fault," Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said.

Kody Okumura was the losing pitcher. He faced just three batters and did not record an out. Okumura allowed one hit, a walk and a pair of unearned runs and is now 1-1 on the season.

It was the eighth game in which the Trojans committed at least one error. Their season total now stands at 17 errors.

"It's a little bit different when you've got guys on base, or you're behind a little bit, you kind of pressure out a little bit and that's where we gotta play a little bit tougher with a little bit more heart and, you know, the game doesn't change — it's still the same game — we just gotta go out and make the plays that we're supposed to make, make the routine plays, the stuff we do every day. Until we do that we're just going to be a mediocre team," Hirayama said.

The teams split the regular-season series. Leilehua avenged a 10-5 loss at Mililani in their first meeting on March 14.

The Mules wrap up the 12-game regular season against Waipahu (1-8) Wednesday.

The Trojans host Aiea (4-5) Wednesday and visit Kapolei (2-7) Friday.

Campbell has clinched the West's top seed and a first-round bye in the 12-team OIA Division I tournament.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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