Overcoming adversity has been nothing new for No. 10 Kamehameha this season, so when the Warriors had their backs against the wall twice, they delivered each time in an eight-inning, 7-6 win over No. 6 Punahou at Ala Wai Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors (5-1-1) scored three runs each in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings to rally past the Buffanblu (5-2). Kalamaku Kuewa beat out a double play with the bases loaded and one out for the winning run, moving Kamehameha into a tie for first place with Mid-Pacific in the ILH standings.
“Like they’ve been doing all year, they’ve been battling. We’ve been down in situations like that and they’ve come through before,” said interim coach Kahi Kaanoi, who took over just two days before tryouts. “Just proud of them to not give up and stick with their approach and just push.
“It doesn’t happen all the time, but you play the percentages, you stick to your approach and good things can happen.”
Matt McConnell took over on the hill for Punahou with a 1-0 lead to start the sixth inning but squandered it when Mark Liberato scored from third on a wild pitch.
Punahou responded with three runs in the top of the seventh. Leadoff hitter Cody Hirano started the inning with a triple to right center and was brought in by Ryan Nishi’s suicide squeeze. The Buffanblu added two insurance runs when Tsukada drove in Donahue again after a line drive to left field and Makana Murashige scored on Kade Morihara’s sacrifice bunt.
McConnell took the mound to start the seventh and yielded to Michael Robichaux after giving up a walk and a double to Jace Borja. Robichaux then walked leadoff hitter Chaesten Chon with the bases loaded. Borja scored on a wild pitch and the Buffanblu intentionally walked Kuewa to load the bases with two outs with Lii Pontes at the plate. Pontes earned a walk and the score was evened at 4. But Robichaux extended the game by striking out Vince Venenciano with the bases loaded.
The Buffanblu retook the lead in the top of the eighth when Ola Aina’s triple brought in Koa Eldredge from second. Punahou doubled its lead when Aina scored on a sacrifice fly from Hirano.
In total, the Warriors used five pitchers. Christian DeJesus got the win after recording the last three outs for the Warriors.
Robichaux got the first out of the eighth but walked the next two hitters, then was taken out in favor of Duke Clemens. After Clemens walked Chon, Liberato laced a single up the middle to score Borja and Mattingly Ho. After Jonny Shimabukuro was walked to load the bases for Kuewa, his grounder to Donohue at short was enough to beat out a double play and score Chon for the winning run.
“In that at-bat, it was just fastballs. I was just timing him up and all of a sudden that happened,” Kuewa said. “I tip my hat to Punahou for giving us a battle today. It’s always a rivalry between us and each game we got, we just gotta battle. It was just an unbelievable game of baseball.”
