Early as it may be in the season, Kailua showed that its current spot among the OIA elite won’t be easily relinquished in a 7-4 win at Castle on Friday afternoon.
With an error-free defense, a formidable offense and solid pitching, the Surfriders (2-1) displayed the elements needed to make another deep run in late April and early May.
After OIA titles in 2016 and 2017 and a runner-up finish in 2018, Kailua coach Corey Ishigo knows there’s ample room for this year’s team to grow as the season progresses.
“Not much, just get back to work,” he said when asked what he told his team after Friday’s win. “Work on throwing more strikes and making better contact at the plate. It’s good to put runs on the board. I know we’re much more capable of scoring runs than how we’ve been.
“We’re gonna continue to work and be a better offensive team, I know that. We’re still in the beginning stages of that.”
Kailua opened up the scoring in a big way with five runs in the top of the second. The Surfriders manufactured two runs when Bryson Ewaliko and Blazen Lono-Wong walked to start the inning and were driven in on bunts by Kayleb Mahuka-Lono and Taylor Takata. Jalen Ah Yat drove in two more runs with a two-out single, then scored on Kalua Neves’ double, which bounced off of Castle’s scoreboard in dead center.
“Kailua is Kailua. They’re definitely one of the big boys in the whole state. We had to bear down,” Castle coach Shane Kauhane said. “There’s a couple of plays that got away from us and a couple pitches that didn’t hit their spots, and that’s what kind of gave them that inning.”
The Knights cut into the deficit in the bottom of the inning with Jonah Figueroa’s two-RBI double.
Ah Yat continued his torrid day at the plate with an RBI single in the fifth to score Takata. The senior finished with a game-high three hits and three RBIs.
“Just staying relaxed,” Ah Yat said of his approach. “I’ve been working on staying quick and loose. That’s just what we tried to work on, and squaring up the ball.”
Nakoa Gaspar-Takahashi took the loss for Castle after surrendering three hits and walking seven in three innings. Fabian Silva-Pokipala pitched the remaining four innings for the Knights, holding Kailua to two runs on six hits and a walk.
“Nakoa, he’s just a bulldog out there. He always will give us his best,” Kauhane said. “Unfortunately, his pitch count (92) got up there and we had to pull him and put Fabian in.
“Fabian’s one of our better pitchers also and he did what he needed to do — he kept us in there at least most of the game.”
Kailua starter Ryan Inouye struck out four, walked one and gave up two hits in three innings of work to earn the victory. He yielded to Shai Lolo-Tamashiro, who cruised along and retired the first eight batters he faced until giving up four consecutive singles with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Lolo-Tamashiro then struck out Jordan Muraoka to escape the jam.
Ewaliko took the mound for Kailua to start the bottom of the seventh and overpowered the top of Castle’s order with a noticeable spike in velocity compared to anyone else who took the mound in Kaneohe. He struck out two.
Ewaliko, who changed his surname from Ballesteros just two weeks ago, is coming off a stellar junior season in which he went 5-0 with a 0.00 ERA and garnered Star-Advertiser first team All-State honors at pitcher.
He struck out Kalai Cabana-Zukeran and Wyatt Lizama before getting Ian Rivera to fly out for the save.
“Bryson will be Bryson. We’ll use him when we gotta use him,” Ishigo said. “We had a bye this week and he needed some work, so we got him in there for an inning.”
The Central Arizona commit says he wants to keep his options open if an MLB team comes calling during the draft in June. He relished the save opportunity on Friday, despite the change of pace from the ace role he’s set to command this season.
“I just like to pitch in intense games. That was a close game and we got the job done,” Ewaliko said. “We just did our job and executed when we had to.”
