The Kalani manufacturing company was at it again Wednesday, creating a pair of runs and playing crisp defense in a 2-0 baseball victory over Moanalua.
A dash of pitching wizardry from Harrison Moy put a serious clampdown on the Moanalua offense. As a result, the visiting Falcons improved to a tidy 4-0 in the Oahu Interscholastic East and avoided falling into a first-place tie with Na Menehune (2-2).
Moy went the distance with a one-hitter and he struck out five while walking only one.
“He (Moy) got ahead (in the counts) and he hit his spots,” Moanalua head coach Scott Yamada said. “We hit balls hard, but right at guys. It’s frustrating that we couldn’t string anything together.”
In the first inning, Kalani struck for a 1-0 lead off Na Menehune starting and losing pitcher Noah Kang. Falcons leadoff man Hunter Lau walked, stole second, took third on Kohl Suehiro’s single and slid safely home on a play at the plate on Travis Toyama’s fielder’s choice.
Due to control problems, Kang didn’t make it out of the first, giving way to reliever Skyler Yamamoto, who prevented further damage in the frame and yielded just one run — unearned — the rest of the way.
“Yamamoto kept us in the game and gave us a chance,” Yamada said. “Offensively, we didn’t get anything going.”
The right-handed Moy faced two batters over the minimum, allowing just two baserunners — Ryne Oshiro, who was left stranded on second base after a leadoff single in the first, and Tyler Trim, who walked in the fourth.
“He throws two pitches, a fastball and a cutter, and he throws both at two different speeds,” Falcons head coach Shannon Hirai said about Moy. “He was able to keep them off balance.”
Ten of 21 Moanalua outs were ground balls scooped up by the Kalani infielders. As a team, the Falcons went errorless.
Kekoa Gabriel got things going for Kalani in the third by reaching on an error. He advanced to second on Lau’s groundout and third on Suehiro’s sacrifice bunt before coming home easily to make it 2-0 on Toyama’s ripped low double that landed just inside the right-field line.
Kalani stranded the bases loaded in that third frame and never seriously threatened again.
“Toyama had a pretty good preseason, but he was struggling as of late, so it was good to see him come out with that double down the line,” Hirai said.
Toyama, who plays third base and bats third, talked about his game-winning RBI in the first and the confidence the team has in Moy.
“I was looking to go up the middle,” he said. “I saw the infield playing back. I was surprised he (Na Menehune shortstop Oshiro) came home with it because there was no play.
“Our defense, we all trust in him (Moy),” he added. “We all back him up and make our plays.”
