Numata nails it

The only team to beat Kailua prior to the state tournament did it again.

Chevas Numata’s grand slam in the top of the seventh gave Pearl City the necessary insurance runs needed to beat the Surfriders for the second time in 14 days, advancing the Chargers to tonight’s title game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championships at Les Murakami Stadium.

Numata put the final touches on a 13-10 victory, getting Corey Louis-Soares to fly out to right to end last night’s first semifinal game. Pearl City will make its third appearance in the title game, but has yet to win a title.

The Chargers will face Moanalua in today’s title game.

“Watching (Baldwin and Moanalua) the past two days, it’s going to be a great game,” Numata said. “A lot of teamwork has gotten us to this point.”

Numata, who homered in the quarterfinals against Waiakea, finished 2-for-4 with three runs scored. He also picked up the victory, pitching the final 2 23 innings.

Elijah Davidann drove in three runs with an inside-the-park homer in the bottom of the seventh as the Surfriders (15-2-1) tried to mount a second comeback.

Kailua trailed 7-0 in the fifth when it scored seven runs to tie the game.

Troy Barboza Scanlan, whose two errors allowed Kailua back into the game, made up for it with the go-ahead RBI single in the sixth. Pearl City never trailed again.

“I’ve trusted what we call ‘Plan A’ pretty much where we have all our guys set up with how they pitch,” Pearl City coach Mitchell Yamato said. “Kailua’s a really good hitting team and we went with (Sean) Milan because he did really well against them in the OIA tournament.”

Milan, a sophomore, was untouchable through the first four innings. He retired 12 of the first 15 batters he faced and didn’t give up a hit until Alan Baldwin opened the fifth with a double.

Kailua coach Corey Ishigo demonstratively yelled at his team before the Surfriders came to bat and they responded, erasing a 7-0 lead in a hurry.

Back-to-back RBI singles by Kory Sasaoka and Bryson Dymond chased Milan, and Tanner Tokunaga couldn’t get an out as the Surfriders scored two more runs. Numata eventually entered the game and surrendered the tying two-run single to Alika Ramseyer-Ho before getting out of the inning.

The Chargers immediately retook the lead on Scanlan’s single that put Pearl City up 8-7.

“For Troy, he’s a young kid, but he was able to bounce back and was all about forgetting (the errors) and getting one of the hits we needed,” Yamato said.

Leading by only a run in the seventh, Pearl City drew a walk with the bases loaded for the first run before Numata got a 1-1 pitch that he drilled over both fences in left-center to make it 13-7.

“I was looking for a good pitch and knew I put a good swing on it,” Numata said. “It’s not an individual sports, it’s a team sport, so I give credit to all the guys on this team.”

Senior Jordan DePonte got CeeJay Santos to ground into a fielder’s choice with the tying run on second to clinch Na Menehune’s spot in the state title game against Pearl City.

The game will be a rematch of the OIA championship game that Moanalua won.

Baldwin rallied for three runs in the seventh to get within a run. James Uwekoolani delivered the big hit with a two-run single.

Bronson Shim allowed seven hits and three runs in 6 23 innings with three walks and four strikeouts to earn the win.

Despite giving up seven hits, the Owls topped the Vikings in consolation play.

The Crusaders ousted the Warriors with five strikeouts by pitcher Kaeo Aliviado.

The Trojans walloped the Mules to advance to the consolation championship.

The Marauders handed the Wildcats their first lost of the season to stay alive in the Division II tournament.

Waipahu pitcher Drake Yoshioka recorded the win. Edward Agag and Micah Luke added doubles for the Marauders.

Waipahu will face Kauai at noon today in the semifinals.

The Wolfpack decisively beat Ka Makani in six innings yesterday, finishing a quarterfinal game that started Thursday.

Jordan Morimoto pitched in the win, while catcher Bryson Kihara added two doubles and two RBIs for Pac-Five.

The Wolfpack will face the Molokai Farmers today at 9 a.m. in the Division II semifinal.