Kamalu Neal spent most of the season catching pitches rather than throwing them. But when he was given the ball to open Pearl City’s state-tournament run, the Chargers junior delivered.

Neal held Maui to two hits over 5⅔ innings and got ample support from his teammates in the field and at the plate as Pearl City defeated Maui 5-1 on Tuesday in the Division I first round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships at ‘Iolani.

"He’s been mainly our starting catcher throughout this season. He started a couple of games for us, a couple of important games, and he always seems to step up to the plate in any situation we’ve put him in," Pearl City head coach Mitch Yamato said.

Pearl City, the defending Division I state champion, advanced to face second-seeded Mid-Pacific in a quarterfinal game today at 5 p.m. at Les Murakami Stadium.

The Chargers opened the tournament at ‘Iolani due to the University of Hawaii baseball team’s practice schedule at Murakami Stadium and made themselves at home in pounding out 11 hits, including six for extra bases.

Neal posted the first of Pearl City’s three doubles in the second inning, with Noah Derby and Shaye Higa driving in runs to give the Chargers a 2-0 lead. Reid Akau added another RBI double in the third and the Chargers scratched out a run in the fifth on a passed ball with the bases loaded. They also used the short game to pad the lead with Akau laying down a squeeze bunt in the sixth to score Tyler Tokunaga, who had tripled with one out.

Neal said he learned of his starting assignment on Monday and rewarded the coaches’ faith. His only rough spot came in the third, when Maui loaded the bases and Neal hit Mark Karaviotis to force in the Sabers’ lone run.

"It was exciting … I was very comfortable," Neal said, adding that his focus was to "just hit my spots and let the team get my back and play good D."

Sophomore Tanner Tokunaga threw the final 1⅓ innings and Yamato said he’d be available to pitch again today if needed.