At the top of the list of goals on a board for the Kalani baseball team is to win a state championship.

To do that, the Falcons have to get there.

They accomplished that step on Thursday afternoon, as senior Dylan Weddle made quick work of Aiea with a two-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory in the quarterfinals of the OIA tournament at Kahala Community Park.

Weddle needed just 67 pitches to get through seven innings and got help from junior Noa Fujitani, who tripled in a run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning and scored on a throwing error to help Kalani (11-2) secure one of the league’s five berths to the first state baseball tournament since 2019.

“We have a long set of goals and we’re ticking off each one as the season continues,” Fujitani said. “It’s a great feeling to know that we have a chance now.”

Kalani didn’t make the last state tournament, which was held when the current seniors were freshmen.

That also was the year head coach Reyn Nagamine took over for longtime Falcons skipper Shannon Hirai, who retired after 23 seasons with the program.

“I’ve only been here for four years, and two of the years were the COVID years, so we didn’t even have an opportunity for the state tournament,” Nagamine said. “I’m just extremely grateful because these guys, the credit goes out to all these guys because they make our jobs as coaches easy. They buy in, they work hard and they have a great attitude.”

Weddle is the perfect example of that attitude. After playing intermediate baseball as a freshman at St. Francis, Weddle was cut from the junior varsity team at Kalani as a sophomore.

Two years later, he won all five of his starts in the regular season and added a dominant performance in his first playoff game, throwing 49 of his 67 pitches for strikes and allowing only one runner to reach scoring position.

“He’s the epitome of the kind of culture we’re trying to establish here,” Nagamine said. “He’s having a great year. He never ceases to surprise us. He gets better and better by the outing. This was something.”

Weddle pitched quick and efficiently, striking out four without allowing a walk. The only batter to reach scoring position was Bostan Ujimori, who bunted for a single with one out in the first and stole second before moving to third on an error.

Ryson Ujimori followed with a fly ball to right field that was caught by Kolin Fukuki, who threw a perfect strike to get Bostan Ujimori out at the plate after tagging up.

“Since the beginning of the season, Coach wanted us to keep up the tempo and keep it fast so our defense doesn’t fall asleep,” Weddle said of his quick pace on the mound. “I just wanted to jam them inside and come with my offspeed (pitches) to throw them off.”

Weddle didn’t allow a hit after a leadoff single in the top of the second inning.

Aiea’s Aidan Yoshida allowed five hits in six innings in a complete-game performance of his own with only one of three earned runs allowed.

Fujitani delivered the big knock when he barreled up a first-pitch fastball over the heads of the outfielders in left-center for an RBI triple with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

“Going into the game, we thought their guy was going to be an offspeed guy,” Fujitani said. “First at-bat he threw me a lot of fastballs, so I saw a fastball in my second at-bat and bingo.”

Fujitani’s triple was the only extra-base hit of the game. Christian Chinen had two of Kalani’s other four hits.

Kalani will play Pearl City in the first game of tonight’s OIA semifinal doubleheader at Hans L’Orange Park.