Kai Hirayama fired a three-hitter with 11 strikeouts as No. 2-ranked Mililani blanked Leilehua, 4-0, in the OIA West baseball opener for both teams Wednesday.
Hirayama walked one and hit one batter, using his fastball, cutter, slider, and change-up effectively.
“My goal was to throw strikes, make the bat move and I feel like I did a pretty good job today at that,” the senior said.
For the southpaw, it was a slightly different vibe facing a few former teammates who had transferred to play for the Mules before the season.
“I feel like after all those guys transferred over, we had kind of a little bit of a rivalry. A little bit chippy,” Hirayama said. “We tried hard to compete against the guys we were close with before. It always brings more competition.”
Mililani’s roster has 30 players. The runoff of talent is almost predictable in any environment. With so much familiarity, the battle between Mililani’s ace and his former teammates could have gone either way.
“He’s a guy we’ve seen since freshman year. He’s been solid throughout high school. He can pump it up a little bit when he wants to with that fastball,” Leilehua coach Brandon Kon said. “Good control. He’s never missing by too much. Lefties are tough to hit. We didn’t put any runs across, but we got on base.”
Mililani (11-5 overall) got a tough battle from their historical rival, eking out four hits against junior Zayden Winter. The right-hander went five-plus innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits with one strikeout, two walks and three hit batters. The biggest difference between the two starters was Hirayama throwing his breaking ball for first-pitch strikes consistently. Winter’s breaking pitches had plenty of movement, just not enough to get Mililani’s veteran hitters to chase them regularly.
“Zayden was around the zone. He did a great job for us,” Kon said. “I like the way we battled. Our pitcher did well and Titan (Pasco) came in and managed the sixth (inning). We made a few mistakes, but the effort was there and the intensity was pretty good throughout. It’s not the outcome we wanted, but I think we played hard.”
Mililani will visit Aiea on Saturday while Leilehua hosts Waipahu.
“Any win is a good win. You give them credit. Leilehua always comes and plays us hard. It’s never an easy game. We’ve always got to play our best every time out,” said Mililani coach Mark Hirayama, no relation to Kai Hirayama. “Kai’s always got heart. He puts it all on the line. He’s going to give us our best when he’s out there. He gets fired up. That’s a part of his success. He wants the ball. He wants to be the guy and he’s going after guys.”
Early generosity by the Mules opened scoring opportunities for Mililani. With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Winter walked Koa Marzo and Caleb Wada. After Aukai Araujo-Waiau’s check-swing grounder to the mound, Jonah Parker stepped into the batter’s box with two outs. Parker sent the first pitch up the middle to center field, scoring Marzo and Wada for a 2-0 Trojans lead.
The visiting Mules got a runner in scoring position in the top of the third frame, but came up empty. Dylan Yonemori’s grounder to second was botched by Wada, and after Hirayama whiffed Kaimi Canyon, he walked Kela Baptista. Hirayama then retired the top two batters in the lineup, Jacob Sablan (strikeout) and Titan Pasco (pop fly).
Hirayama had a no-hitter after four innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Parker’s opposite-field line drive carried over the left fielder for a double, but the Trojans came up empty against Winter.
Kysen Kobashigawa led off the top of the fifth with an infield single, ending Hirayama’s no-hit bid. With the shortstop, Malosi Mata‘afa-Alferos, leaning heavily toward second base, Yonemori’s line drive to short bounced into left field for another single.
Hirayama then struck out Canyon on a wicked curve ball. Facing Baptista, he threw a fastball for a strike, and catcher Ryne Yoshimura rifled the ball to second base, where Mata‘afa-Alferos tagged out the baserunner, Kobashigawa, for the second out.
Hirayama then caught Baptista looking at a third strike to end the inning.
It was his seventh K of the game. The Yoshimura-to-Mata‘afa-Alferos execution may have been the pivotal play of the game.
“That’s what we talk about, trying to keep within striking distance towards the end,” Kon said. “If we can keep it close, we have a shot. We’ve just got to learn from it. Close games like this, it comes down to mistakes.”
Hirayama didn’t try any pickoff throws to second base and didn’t know if or when Yoshimura was throwing to second base.
“I didn’t know, but I’m glad that Ryne caught it. They worked on rundowns the whole entire week and the week before so I’m glad it paid off. That was on the fly,” Hirayama said.
Coach Hirayama credited Yoshimura for the big play.
“Ryne’s got a good baseball IQ. We want the guys to be aggressive and try to go out and make plays,” he said. “Sometimes, you have to take off the reins a little bit. What it comes down to, you’ve got to be able to play catch. If we can do that and they make good decisions on making plays like that, hopefully, we’ll be successful. You’ve always got to be alert on every play.
Mililani added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Araujo-Waiau sent a ground-rule double just inside the left-field foul pole and Parker was hit by pitch. Pinch hitter Kameron Pongasi’s hard grounder bounced off the glove of third baseman Yonemori and into left field allowing Araujo-Waiau to score on a head-first slide at home plate.
Second baseman Titan Pasco took the mound in relief and struck out Yoshimura. Hirayama then sent a ground ball to third, where Yonemori bobbled the ball, then threw to first for the second out. The bobble allowed pinch runner Ethan Bagasol to score from third base to give Mililani a 4-0 cushion.
Using the bunt nearly made a big impact for Leilehua.
“We tried to put some pressure on the defense. We weren’t able to execute the bunt, but that’s on me. We’ll put it more in the practice plan,” Kon said.
Going the distance was never in doubt for Hirayama.
“Throughout the preseason and all of our practices, I’ve been working with our pitching coach, coach Gaynor (Nitta). I feel like he’s helped me a great amount with pitch-making and sequencing. He’s been conditioning us to make us who we are,” Hirayama said.
