The first day of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships could not have worked out better for ILH runner-up ‘Iolani.
Not only did the Raiders win their first state tournament game since 2000, ‘Iolani got to preserve ace Trevor Ichimura, who can come back to pitch Thursday after throwing four perfect innings in an 11-1 win over Kalani in six innings at Les Murakami Stadium on Tuesday.
Ichimura threw just 46 pitches to earn the win as ‘Iolani (15-5-1) benefited from eight Kalani errors to advance to today’s quarterfinal against No. 4-seeded OIA champion Mililani at 1 p.m.
“This was a great start for us. We have a tough one (today) in Mililani but we’ve got to keep it rolling,” Ichimura said. “I felt really ready to go and I was really pumped up for this game.”
Pitch-count rules for the state tournament require a pitcher who throws between 36 and 60 pitches to sit out a day before coming back.
In earlier games of the tournament, Campbell’s Ayzek Silva threw 78 pitches in a three-hit shutout of Kamehameha-Maui and can’t come back to pitch until Friday.
Kailua’s Bryson Ballesteros threw 99 pitches in a two-hit shutout of Leilehua and is done for the tournament.
“It worked out well but it doesn’t matter if we don’t take care of (Mililani),” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said. “Trevor did a great job. He stuck to the plan and was very efficient.”
Eight of ‘Iolani’s nine runs off Kalani starter Riece Myers were unearned. A single and two-base error allowed Micah Yonamine to reach third base and score on an infield single by Shane Sasaki with two outs in the first inning.
‘Iolani added two runs in the third off of four Kalani errors and a dropped fly ball with two outs in the fourth allowed three more Raiders to score in the inning for a 9-0 lead.
Cade Yonamine had an RBI double and Micah Yonamine went 3-for-3 with a double and drove in a run.
Kalani’s Duke Knott was hit by a pitch to break up the perfect game in the top of the fifth and Noah Nakasone followed with an RBI double to the wall in right to break up the no-hitter and the shutout on the next pitch.
The game ended with one out in the bottom of the sixth inning when Sasaki lifted a fly ball to right field that was dropped, allowing two runners to score.
Sasaki reached base three different times on dropped fly balls.
“I think defensively we looked really good … and hitting wise we put some good hits on the ball,” Ichimura said.
Kalani (11-5) wasn’t able to hit a ball out of the infield against Ichimura, who recorded 10 outs by ground ball and the other two via strikeout.
“He’s our guy. That’s what we needed out of him,” Miyahira said. “Hopefully it’s contagious. We’ve got to do a better job offensively. We need to stick to the plan a little more. The ball is not carrying at all here.”
At Les Murakami Stadium
Kalani (11-5) 000 010 — 1 1 8
‘Iolani (15-5-1) 102 602 — 11 9 0
Riece Myers, Jarod Kaneshiro (4), Pablo Ruelas (6) and Chad Kagawa. Trevor Ichimura, Brandon Yamane (5), Aaron Wehrman (6) and Micah Yonamine. W—Ichimura. L—Myers
Leading hitters—Kaln: Noah Nakasone 2b, RBI. ‘Iol: Shaydon Kubo 2 runs; Micah Yonamine 3-3, 2b, RBI; Kyler Mento 2 runs; Cade Yonamine 2b, RBI; Jordan Hara 2 runs.
