Kalani’s magical OIA baseball run continues

Kohl Suehiro can be a stubborn young hitter.

The Kalani Falcons like to think of it more as persistence. The junior insisted on waiting for a fastball, and after falling behind 0-2 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth inning, he got his wish. Suehiro socked a single to left off Waipahu pitcher Gabriel Ballesteros, scoring Reece Kakugawa with the winning run as No. 5 Kalani rallied past the Marauders 3-2 in OIA Division I semifinal action at Hans L’Orange Park.

“He’s smart enough to take that approach,” Kalani coach Shannon Hirai said.

Duke Fujii was a bulldog on the mound for Kalani, going all eight innings with nine strikeouts and two walks. His breaking ball was hitting spots in warmups, but not so much after the first pitch of the game.

“It was mostly fastballs. My slider wasn’t 100 percent,” Fujii said. “Bronson (Matsumoto) called the pitches. I like his calls.”

Suehiro, 2-for-4 in the game, and his teammates had little success against the crafty southpaw until the eighth frame. But Reece Kakugawa led off the inning with a single to left, then advanced to second when Ballesteros’ pickoff attempt flared wide of first base. After Kakugawa reached third base on a fly ball to right by Connor Zalewski, Ballesteros intentionally walked Bronson Matsumoto and Payton Awaya to load the bases.

Suehiro came to the plate looking only for his fastball.

“I had to keep fouling off his curveball,” he said. “Then I got the fastball down the middle.”

Now Kalani is in the OIA final for the first time since 1971, when Herb Okamura was the coach. That year, future major leaguer Lenny Sakata was the standout player, leading the Falcons to the title.

No. 9 Kailua 9, No. 2 Pearl City 3

Trailing 3-2 entering the top of the seventh, the Surfriders benefited from six Chargers errors to surge ahead and reach the OIA D-I championship game.

Pearl City, the first-place team in the OIA West and ranked No. 2 in the Top 10, suffered its first loss after 13 victories.

Starter Keiki Kanahele-Santos went five innings for Kailua before yielding to Dalton Kalama, who began the game as a designated hitter. Kalama permitted one run on one hit in two innings of relief for the win.

Trenton Darley, Pearl City’s third pitcher of the game, walked Dustin Imanaka and Kalama in the top of the seventh, and Auld singled to right to load the bases.

Lawson Faria’s grounder to short turned into the first error of the inning, allowing Imanaka to score and tie the game at 3. Keiki Kanahele-Santos’ grounder to second later brought Auld home with the go-ahead run to make it 4-3, and from there, the Chargers’ normally leak-proof defense turned into a flood of mistakes.