Brandon Smithe has quite the athletic legacy behind him at Leilehua.
The school’s athletic complex is named after his grandfather, former athletic director and OIA executive secretary Bill Smithe. His half-brother, Bryant Moniz, was a standout quarterback with the Mules and later at the University of Hawaii.
Smithe delivered a notable performance of his own on Thursday by earning a complete-game victory in the Mules’ 3-1 win over Waipahu in the quarterfinals of the OIA Red baseball playoffs.
Leilehua entered the postseason as the sixth seed from the OIA Red West after going 4-8 in the regular season. Two high-pressure wins later, the Mules advanced to the OIA semifinals and earned a ticket to Maui for the Division I state tournament.
“For our team to come from the bottom, and look at us now,” Smithe said. “We’re the cinderella team and we’re super excited.”
Leilehua will face Mililani in today’s 3:30 p.m semifinal game at Hans L’Orange Park. Waipahu plays at Castle in a loser’s bracket game with a state tournament berth again on the line.
“It just came down to we just made more mistakes than them. You have to give them credit, they scrapped,” Waipahu coach Milton Takenaka said. “We’ll come back (today) and see how it goes.”
Leilehua scratched out a run in the seventh inning to eliminate Moanalua, the OIA East’s third seed, with a 4-3 win on Wednesday. They again manufactured just enough offense on Thursday to upset second-seeded Waipahu (8-5). The Mules had closed the regular season with an 8-0 loss to the Marauders.
“I think it’s a cliche all coaches use, it’s not a matter of where you start, it’s where you end up and it seems to be working for us,” Leilehua coach Lane Watanuki said. “They seem to understand what’s at stake and they’re finally putting things together and they’re playing like they’re capable of playing.”
Smithe did his part in holding Waipahu to four hits while striking out four and walking five, one intentionally. The senior said he didn’t dwell on the game’s ramifications before taking the mound.
“I didn’t want to think about anything but throwing strikes and not walking too much batters today because that’s been my problem,” said Smithe, whose father, Steven, is an assistant coach.
He walked Waipahu pitcher and leadoff batter Dylan Sugimoto in the bottom of the first, and Joshua Maglangit’s single through the right side of the infield scored Sugimoto with the game’s first run.
After Leilehua tied the score in the third on Ian Kaopua’s squeeze bunt, Waipahu loaded the bases in the fourth and fifth innings. But Smithe induced ground balls both times to preserve the tie.
“My coach was always telling me to not worry about what just happened and worry about the next ball,” Smithe said.
Leilehua loaded the bases with nobody out in the sixth, but looked like it might come up empty after a strikeout and a missed squeeze attempt resulted in the runner on third being tagged out.
But Trayson Kubo bounced a grounder to third, and the throw to first skipped away, allowing two runs to score.
“We got the break,” Watanuki said. “I was pretty upset we never executed the squeeze but we were able to get the two runs and everything worked out.”
Smithe gave up a leadoff walk in the sixth but benefitted from a baserunning error that resulted in a double play off a fly ball to left field, and he retired Waipahu in order in the seventh.
“The adrenaline was kicking in and I knew I had to focus in and throw strikes,” Smithe said.
At Waipahu
Leilehua (6-8) 001 002 0 — 3 7 1
Waipahu (8-5) 100 000 0 — 1 4 2
Brandon Smithe and Jared Chai. Dylan Sugimoto and Graysen Fuentes. W—Smithe. L—Sugimoto.
Leading hitters—Leilehua: Cody Academia, 2-3; Ian Kaopua, RBI. Waipahu: Justin Padilla, 2-4; Joshua Maglangit, 2-2, RBI.
Campbell 3, Kaiser 1
Jasten Smeigh spun a one-hitter, striking out six, as the Sabers edged the Cougars.
Campbell plays Kailua at 6:30 p.m. today at Hans L’Orange Park in a semifinal game.
At Campbell
Kaiser 000 100 0 — 1 1 2
Campbell 012 000 x — 3 5 1
Makana Lyman, Noah Sakatani (5) and Kellen Yoshioka, Lyman (5). Jasten Smeigh and Tryzen Patricio. W—Smeigh. L—Lyman.
Leading hitters—Cam: Wesley Mendoza 2b; Dewayne Sprinkel 2-3.
Mililani 1, Castle 0
Cole Nakachi threw six shutout innings for the win, and the Trojans scored an unearned run, thanks to three errors in the top of the seventh, to beat the Knights.
Mililani hosts Waipahu at 3:30 p.m. today, with the winner earning a state playoff berth.
At Castle
Mililani 000 000 1 — 1 4 0
Castle 000 000 0 — 0 3 3
Cole Nakachi, Troy Kakugawa (7) and Jamesson Madrid. Christian Kapeliela and Dane Kamalu. W—Nakachi. L—Kapeliela. S—Kakugawa.
Leading hitters—Mil: Ekolu Ramos 2-3; Kanoa Wong 2b. Cas: Bobby Aiwohi 3b.
OIA WHITE PLAYOFFS
Kaimuki 12, Kahuku 0
Will Higa fired a one-hitter, striking out 10, to lead the Bulldogs in a quarterfinal game. Kaimuki plays at Radford at 3:30 p.m. in a semifinal game.
At Kahuku
Kaimuki 244 02 — 12 9 0
Kahuku 000 00 — 0 1 3
Will Higa and Cody Takasaki. Kahuku players unavailable.
Leading hitters—Kaim: Ausin Inouye 3-4, 2 RBIs, 3b: Higa 3 runs; Jesse Venitez 4 RBIs.
Waialua 10, Nanakuli 0
Junior righthander Taleon Lele tossed a five-inning no-hitter, striking out four, as the Bulldogs beat the Golden Hawks in a quarterfinal game. Waialua plays at Waianae at 3:30 p.m. today.
At Waialua
Nanakuli 000 00 — 0 0 0
Waialua 510 31 — 10 16 0
Brandon Felisi and Kehekili Barrozo. Taleon Lele and Kevin Dellatan.
Leading hitters—Wai: Hunter Quillinderino 3-4, 2 runs; Dellatan 2-3, 2b; Shannon Fisher-Larue 2-2, 2b; Sterling Bredin 2-3, 2b; Jarret Felix 2-3.
MIL BASEBALL
Baldwin 8, Kamehameha-Maui 0
Seabury Hall 15, Lanai 0
ILH SOFTBALL
No. 1 Kamehameha 10, Pac-Five 0
Kamalani Dung tossed a two-hit shutout and Ateisha Norton drove in five runs as the Warriors clinched the ILH regular-season title.
Pac-Five (2-13) 000 000 — 0 2 3
KS (13-2) 004 132 — 10 11 0
Kamalani Dung and Rachel Ogasawara. Kalehiwa Ah New and Kailee Russell. W—Dung. L—Ah New.
Leading hitters—KS: Maelia Zablan 2-4, 2b, 3 runs; Rachel Dumlao 2-4, 2b; Chris Hipa 2-3; Ateisha Noron 2-4, HR, 5 RBIs; Rachel Ogasawara 2-4, 2b.
