Wisdom of the years show on Mililani coach Mark Hirayama.
The whiskers are now white and, as always, the longtime coach doesn’t get too high or too low. Even after three of his pitchers combined for a one-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over Pearl City on Friday afternoon.
Ryan Ancheta, Jason Shiigi and Vance Oshiro combined on the mound on a soggy, cool afternoon at the Chargers’ field. Ancheta, a southpaw, threw 64 pitches in four innings, allowing one hit with three strikeouts and three walks. Shiigi struck out three in two innings and Oshiro finished with two strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter in the seventh frame.
“We want our pitchers to pitch to contact. We don’t have any overwhelming guys,” said Hirayama, who was surprised by the combined count of eight strikeouts.
By the fourth inning, drizzling rain began to fall and never stopped.
“All you can do is stick with mechanics and expect a slippery mound,” said Ancheta, who located his fastball and curve effectively enough. “This mound was actually pretty good.”
No. 7-ranked Mililani improved to 1-1 in Oahu Interscholastic Association West play just two days after losing a 1-0 pitchers’ duel to No. 8 Campbell.
“We started with a loss. We’re just trying to get to OIA (playoffs) and states,” said leadoff hitter Shea Yamaguchi, one of four Trojans with two base hits against the Chargers.
Pearl City slipped to 1-1 under first-year head coach Wes Yonamine. The Chargers had just stifled Aiea 14-4 on Wednesday.
“Mililani has good pitchers. We’ve just got to keep battling,” Yonamine said.
The game was close until the visiting Trojans plated three runs in the fifth and two more in the seventh. Kulia Neal and Ethan Kwon went most of the way on the mound for Pearl City.
In the second frame, Micah Kaohu walked with two outs and stole second base. Austin Dela Cruz then singled to left, but Kaohu was thrown out at home plate by Christian Pacrem’s perfect throw on the fly to catcher Alihikaua Rodrigues.
The visitors loaded the bases in the top of the third inning, but cleanup hitter Ethan Thomas popped out to end the threat.
In the fourth, Kaohu walked and advanced to second on a bad pickoff throw by Neal. Dela Cruz (2-for-2) was hit by pitch and Bryce Yonemori (2-for-3) walked to load the bases. Zack Lafata then lofted a fly ball to center, scoring Kaohu from third base for the first run of the game.
Neal evaded more trouble by getting Yamaguchi to ground into a fielder’s choice at second.
In the bottom of the fourth, Pearl City picked up its first hit of the game and had the bases loaded. Shawn Iwane reached base with a one-out infield single, Sam Prentice walked, and with two outs, Pacrem walked. Ancheta, facing lefty-hitting Caleb Young, fell behind 3-1, then froze him with back-to-back curve balls for a strikeout to end the inning.
In the top of the fifth, Korrey Siracusa walked with one out, and Thomas and Taylor Inouye singled to fill the sacks. Neal fanned Kaohu with an off-speed toss down the middle of the plate. Kwon then entered the game and walked Dela Cruz on four pitches, forcing Siracusa home from third base to give Mililani a 2-0 lead.
Yonemori then came through with a single to right, bringing Thomas and Inouye home for a four-run cushion.
Shiigi entered in relief for Mililani and promptly struck out Rodrigues and Dillon Kaneshiro for a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the fifth. He struck out one more Charger, Matt Aribal, in the bottom of the sixth.
In the top of the seventh, Inouye singled to right with one out, went to second base on a balk, and scored on a two-out single by Dela Cruz. After Yonemori singled to center, pinch hitter Joshua Reis’ infield single scored Dela Cruz from third base for the final six-run margin.
Pearl City will visit Campbell on Wednesday. Mililani will not play until March 10, when it hosts Waipahu.
