After a rare missed appearance in the state tournament, the Campbell baseball team is back in familiar territory.
Dayton Lorenzo sent a two-out pitch into right field to score Jayden Pacariem with the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth inning to knock off Mililani 6-5 on Thursday evening in the first of two semifinal games in the OIA Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium.
Campbell (12-2) ended Mililani’s run of three consecutive league titles with its second walk-off win in three games against the Trojans (9-6) this season.
Mililani has held the lead or been tied with the Sabers in the seventh inning of all three games just to see Campbell pull out the win time and time again.
“I don’t think I can say it. I step on dog (expletive) every day,” Campbell coach Wayne Nagamine said. “I’m serious. They’re a good team and we’re just fortunate to come out ahead. That’s a tribute to all of these guys here overcoming the mistakes they made, making the pitches they have to, making bunts and just keep grinding and just keep playing.”
Ridge Choy cleared the bases with a three-run double in a four-run first inning for Campbell, which led 4-1 in the top of the sixth when Mililani rallied for a 5-4 lead.
Catcher Cason Eliptico-Quinata tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-5 and it stayed that way until the bottom of the eighth.
Hunter Lindsey led off with a single up the middle and was subbed out for Pacariem, who took second on Shaun-Lee Saito’s perfectly placed bunt.
The Sabers had runners on second and third with two outs for Lorenzo, who singled and scored on Choy’s double in the first.
After taking the first pitch for a ball, Lorenzo calmly lined a base hit over the head of the second baseman for the walk-off hit.
“Was just trying to stay through the ball. My team practices staying through the ball every day,” Lorenzo said.
Campbell, which had made seven consecutive state tournaments before missing out last year, will play in the OIA title game for the sixth time in the last nine tournaments held.
The Sabers haven’t won since winning three in a row from 2013-15.
“We’ve all worked hard and we’ve come together as a team to bring that energy and I think that’s what carries us,” Choy said.
Seven of Campbell’s 12 wins this year are by two runs or fewer. The Sabers’ quarterfinal win over Pearl City on Tuesday to clinch a state berth was also by the same 6-5 score.
“They work really hard,” Nagamine said. “They work on their mental toughness, they work hard on grinding, they work hard on their physical attributes and you know what, we’ll see where it takes us.”
Lindsey finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and starting pitcher Shaveh Sarono added two singles.
Kalaeloa Kalua improved to 3-0 working the final 21⁄3 shutout innings to earn the win for Campbell.
Mililani catcher Kalei Alana finished 2-for-2 with two RBIs. He drove in Calvin Hawes with a sacrifice fly in the second inning and ignited the Trojans rally in the sixth inning with an RBI double.
Shortstop Malosi Mata’ala-Alferos tied the game with a two-out RBI double to right-center and scored on Cyler Wicklund’s base hit to put Mililani ahead 5-4.
The Trojans secured their ninth consecutive appearance in the state tournament with a 3-0 shutout of Kaiser in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Leilehua 1, Kailua 0
Sophomore Keola Hanoa threw out the tying run at the plate on a fly ball to left field to finish off the Mules’ shutout of the Surfriders.
Senior Bryden Takayama threw a five-hit shutout to push Leilehua (9-5) into the OIA final against Campbell. The Mules haven’t won an OIA title in baseball since 1962.
Takayama improved to 5-0 for the season. He walked two and struck out five in a 102-pitch effort.
Leilehua centerfielder Bryce Anzai, who threw out a runner at the plate to end the bottom of the second inning, scored the only run of the game off of two Surfriders errors in the top of the second.
Kailua’s Jayden Hunt also threw a complete game, allowing three hits and one unearned run on 90 pitches with one walk and five strikeouts.
Masao Minami had two of Kailua’s four hits, including a single through the hole between shortstop and third with one out in the seventh.
Kaimana Burgo followed with a single over the head of the second baseman to put the tying run on third and the winning run at first.
Burgo took second on a stolen base that Leilehua decided to give up in order to keep Minami from scoring from third.
Hunt lifted a fly ball to left field that was caught by Hanoa, who then threw a strike to catcher Zane Winter, who applied the tag on Minami to end it.
The Mules split their two games against the Sabers this season. Both games were decided by one run.