Before testing itself against the neighbor island’s best, OIA runner-up Campbell had to overcome a pesky league foe for the second time this month.
Markus Ramos drilled a pinch-hit, go-ahead RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth inning and the Sabers got a key defensive play from second baseman Aaron Bentosino in the seventh inning to hold off Kaiser 5-4 in the first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships in Division I on Wednesday at Les Murakami Stadium.
Ramos’ triple off the glove of Noah Matsumoto in center gave Campbell (15-1) the lead after Kaiser (9-8) rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth.
The Cougars had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh before Darien Robinson got two groundouts to earn the save and move Campbell into the quarterfinals today at 10 a.m. against BIIF champion Hilo.
“What (Kaiser) showed us today is exactly what we expected,” Campbell coach Rory Pico said. “I guess at the end of the day you’ve got to score one more run than the other team and we were fortunate to get that.”
The Sabers outlasted the Cougars 4-2 in the OIA quarterfinals on their way to a second-place finish to Kailua.
Kaiser had to come back to beat Kapolei in a consolation game to secure a state tournament berth under first-year coach Kila Ka’aihue.
The Cougars trailed 4-1 in the sixth inning when Antonio Omphroy singled off Campbell reliever Ayzek Silva to drive in Lincoln Lima, who led off with a walk.
The ball bounced away from center fielder Nick Sampson to allow Kainoa Craig to score and Omphroy ended up on second as the tying run.
He was thrown out trying to advance to third on a grounder to short, but the Cougars managed to tie the game on pinch hitter Micah Mashima’s RBI single to score Kainoa Torres.
“We’ve got some boys that just flat out compete,” Ka’aihue said. “Like every game this season that we lost we had our chances and we capitalized a bunch, too. We made some mistakes but overall, fantastic game.”
Ramos, Campbell’s ace pitcher, pinch-hit with two outs and a runner on second in the top of the seventh.
He smoked the first offering from Kaiser reliever Pono Lyman to center that rolled all the way to the wall for the winning hit.
“I went up there thinking put the best swing on the best pitch I possibly can and first pitch, fastball inside, I went up the middle and put bat on ball,” Ramos said.
Pinch hitter Jace Okamoto started the seventh inning with a grounder up the middle to the right of Bentosino at second base. He backhanded the ball and fell to the ground but was still able to get enough on the throw to get Okamoto by a half-step at first.
It saved a run as Keoni Pangan followed with a double to center that would have tied the game.
Instead he was stranded on second to end it.
“I couldn’t get back up to my feet so I just threw it from my knees,” Bentosino said. “We’re really prepared for this tournament. We’ve just got to control what we can control and we will be all right.”
Shortstop Ikaika Ganancial hit a two-run double in the sixth inning to put Campbell ahead 4-1.
Lima finished 2-for-3 with a double, walk and two runs scored and Craig doubled and tripled for Kaiser.
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HHSAA DIVISION I BASEBALL
Campbell 5, Kaiser 4
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Kaiser (9-8) 100 003 0 — 4 9 1
>> Campbell (15-1) 010 031 X — 5 5 2
Chase Asuncion, Pono Lyman (6) and Kainoa Torres. Jamin Kalaola, Ayzek Silva (6), Darien Robinson (7) and Todd Takahama. W—Silva. L—Lyman.
Leading hitters—Kais: Lincoln Lima 2-3, 2b, 2 runs; Kainoa Craig 2-2, 2b, 3b, RBI, run; Keoni Pangan 1-4, 2b. Camp: Shane Shimizu 2-3, RBI, run; Ikaika Ganancial 1-3, 2b, 2 RBIs; Nicholas Sampson 1-2, 2 runs; Markus Ramos 1-1, 3b, RBI.
Kamehameha 3, Kalani 0
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Kalani (10-6) 000 000 0 — 0 2 1
>> KS (15-6) 001 200 x — 3 6 0
Harrison Moy and Bronson Matsumoto. Li’i Pontes, Hunter Breault (7), Francis Gora (7) and Dylan Salcedo. W—Pontes. L—Moy. S—Gora.
Waiakea 4, Moanalua 3
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Moanalua (10-7) 100 002 0 — 3 1 0
>> Waiakea (15-2) 000 022 X — 4 6 0
Randy Tabura, Skyler Yamamoto (4), Ryne Oshiro (6), Christian Capinia (6) and Andrew Oasay. David Nakamura, Devon Hirata (3), Devin Midel (5), Casey Yamauchi (6) and Jacob Igawa. W—Yamauchi. L—Oshiro.
Leading hitters—Moan: Bryson Sato 1-1, 2 RBIs. Waik: Anthony Benevides Jr. 1-1, 2b, RBI, run.
Maui 12, Mililani 2, 5 inn.
At Les Murakami Stadium
>> Mililani (8-8) 200 00 — 2 5 5
>> Maui (11-5) 136 02 — 12 11 1
Shane Griffin, Cole Mayeshiro (3), Seth Thomas (5) and catcher. Treston Carter and catcher. W—Carter. L—Griffin.
Leading hitters—Mil: Bryson Arakaki 2-2; Noah Domogsac 1-3, 2b, run. Maui: Micah Jio 2-4, RBI, 2 runs; Bryant Nakagawa 2-4, 3b, RBI, run; Kao Mindoro 1-3, 2 RBIs, run; Orrion Suda 2 runs; Kaipo Paschoal 2-3, 2 runs; Carter 2-3; Jyrah Lalim 1-3, 2b, 3 RBIs, 2 runs.
