It’s pretty safe to say Saint Louis’ Richie Vidal enjoys pitching against Kamehameha.
Vidal, a junior right-hander, picked up the victory after facing the minimum over 32⁄3 innings of relief as No. 6 Saint Louis beat No. 8 Kamehameha 3-1 in an ILH game Saturday at Ala Wai Field.
“He’s our most experienced varsity guy, so it’s a huge, huge job to get us through those innings,” said Saint Louis coach George Gusman.
In his previous appearance against the Warriors, Vidal threw a no-hitter in last season’s ILH tournament.
“They’re a good team,” Vidal said. “I mean I’ve faced most of these boys all my life (in youth leagues) and kind of know how to go at them.”
On Saturday, Vidal inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the third and got a strikeout and lineout to first baseman Caleb Lomavita to end the threat.
“The coach told me to be ready and that’s what I have to do for this team,” Vidal said. “The mind-set is to do my job day in and day out.”
Vidal, who struck out four, allowed a single to Josiah Pekelo in the fifth, but picked him off first base. In the sixth, Vidal allowed a lead-off walk to Javyn Pimental, but recorded a strikeout and got Jonny Shimabukuro to line out to Lomavita, who stepped on the first-base bag to retire the side.
Kamehameha made things interesting in the seventh after Vincente Venenciano hit a lead-off triple against JT Navyac and pinch hitter Kala Burnett drew a walk. Navyac then struck out the next three batters to record the save.
“He’s a quality guy, a very high-skilled player and we’re trying to use him as a starter, but he pitches in the situations where we need him,” Gusman said of Navyac.
The Crusaders (7-2) scored two unearned runs in the second off Kapono Rawlins. With one out and a runner on first, Makana Ontai hit a foul pop-up that first baseman Shimabukuro whiffed on. Ontai drilled the next pitch for a hit and left fielder Kaeden Shim misplayed the ball, allowing two runs to score.
“Sometimes you get a little lucky and that time we were a little lucky,” Gusman said.
In the bottom half of the inning, Kamehameha’s Venenciano hit a run-scoring single to left to plate Pa’a Elarionoff and make it 2-1.
The Crusaders, who have won five in a row, scored an insurance run in the sixth on Lomavita’s triple to right-center, which plated Cole Kashimoto from first.
“It was huge for Cole to get on and Caleb, he’s Caleb,” Gusman said.
Both teams struggled with runners in scoring position.
The Crusaders finished 0-for-6 with three strikeouts, while the Warriors (5-4) went 1-for-9 with four strikeouts. Kamehameha stranded five runners over the first three innings, including four in scoring position.
“We kind of preach that, cashing in on our opportunities and today wasn’t our day,” said Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa. “It happens, that’s baseball.”
There was controversy in the Saint Louis half of the third inning, which led to Gusman filing a protest (now moot since Saint Louis won). With runners at the corners and one out, Lomavita hit a grounder to third baseman Elarionoff, who fired to second baseman Keaka Barrozo for the force and the relay to first was not in time.
Kitagawa came out and argued the Crusaders baserunner, Noah Tory, interfered with Barrozo when he slid.
The home-plate umpire ruled Tory interfered and awarded Kamehameha the double play.
Kitagawa said his second baseman “stepped forward and got clipped and, in my opinion, (Tory) didn’t slide directly into the bag.”
Gusman said his baserunner slid straight into the bag and didn’t pop up. He added the home-plate umpire told him the runner has to avoid the fielder.
After 15 minutes of discussion and a protest being filed by Gusman, the game continued.
Following the delay, Saint Louis starter Austin Teixeira walked two batters and hit another while recording one out. That led to Vidal entering the game.
“Our kids competed today,” Kitagawa said. “I’m super proud of them. They’ve been struggling a little bit, so I’m super proud of their effort and how they battled. Give Saint Louis credit, they deserved to win today.”
