WAILUKU >> Three days. Three come-from-behind wins. One state championship.
The Waiakea baseball team had to wait three years before finally breaking through to win the second state title in school history, knocking off Baldwin 3-2 in the Division I final of the First Hawaiian Bank/HHSAA Baseball State Championships on Saturday night at Iron Maehara Stadium.
Waiakea senior Kedren Kinzie drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the fifth inning and Kyson Wada induced a fly ball to right with the tying run on second in the top of the seventh to complete the win in a rematch of the 2018 state final won by the Bears.
“To come out ahead over Baldwin is a big win for us because they are really good,” Waiakea coach Chris Honda said. “I told our team from the beginning if we play like we can, I think we can compete with anybody in the state, but you just have to believe in yourself and trust the process and they did that.”
Waiakea (11-0) had advanced to the semifinals three years in a row and made the final in two of those appearances before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the state tournament in both 2020 and ’21.
For the Waiakea seniors, this was their only opportunity to try to take it one step further and join the 2012 team as the only senior classes to bring a state baseball trophy to the Big Island.
“It’s amazing because after all of these years of COVID, all of us wanted this so bad,” said Wada, who had two of Waiakea’s three hits. “I was just trying to throw strikes and not do anything big because I knew my teammates had my back.”
Wada, the team’s No. 3 hitter, was hitless in the first two games of the state tournament but played a big role in the outcome of the final.
He singled in his first two at-bats and then tied the game with an RBI groundout before Kinzie’s go-ahead hit in the fifth inning.
With runners on first and second and nobody out in the top of the seventh, Wada jogged in from his spot in left field and took the mound for the first time in the tournament.
He gave up a bunt to move the runners to second and third before Christian Dominno’s sacrifice fly to center made it a one-run game.
Wada got a fly ball to right on the very next pitch with the tying run on second to set off the celebration.
“I’ve seen Kyson throughout the year grow up and I know his ability,” Honda said. “He’s been on big stages before with not only high school but travel ball in big tournaments across the country, so I knew bringing him into big situations like this was something he was used to and I was confident he could do the job.”
Waiakea’s road to the final was a tough one. The Warriors trailed Kalani by three runs in their first game of the tournament before a six-run fourth inning led to a 6-3 win. They trailed Saint Louis 4-2 in the sixth inning in the semifinals before squeaking out a 5-4 victory to get to the final, where they took on the tournament host Bears, who hadn’t lost a game this season.
Both teams managed only three hits, with Kinzie’s grounder finding the hole on the left side of the infield for the go-ahead hit.
“I was just thinking about how I could help the team compete, compete, compete, and hit the ball hard,” Kinzie said. “It was rough, but it was really fun.”
Baldwin led the tournament in runs with 20 in its first two games, but didn’t get a hit Saturday until Wehiwa Aloy tripled into the corner in right to lead off the top of the fourth. Levi Maddela drove him in with a one-out single, but that’d be it until Domino’s sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Baldwin’s only other hit was a two-out single by Makane Honokaupu in the third inning.
“Devastating. The kids have worked very hard to get here and to get this opportunity,” Baldwin coach Craig Okita said. “I’m very proud of our team. We came a long way from the start. It just sucks to be second, right? That’s sometimes the way it goes.”
Justice Dorser, who came on in relief and got Saint Louis to hit into double plays in both the sixth and seventh innings to earn the win in the semifinals, replaced starter Kaleb Sato with one out in the fourth inning and immediately induced a double-play grounder to short.
He struck out four in a row and didn’t give up a hit in 22⁄3 innings to earn his second win in as many nights.
Baldwin’s Davin Lewis pitched a complete game in the loss, striking out five in six innings.
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HHSAA/Wally Yonamine Foundation
Division I State Championships
Consolation
‘Iolani 6, Maui 3
W—Matthew Kaneshiro. L—Jackson Nuese.
Leading Hitters—Iol: Travis Ujimori 2-3, run, 2 RBI; Bruin Agbayani 2-3, run, 3 RBI; Jonah Velasco 2-2.
Fifth place
Pearl City 6, Hilo 5
W—Tyler Nishimura. L—Xaige Lancaster.
Leading Hitters—PC: Tyson Murakami run, RBI. Hilo: Kamren Agpaza run, 2 RBI; Xaige Lancaster 2 RBI.
Third place
Saint Louis 9, Kailua 1
W—Aiva Arquette. L—Orion Medeiros.
Leading Hitters—StL: Xander Sielken 2 runs; Nuu Contrades 2-3, 2 runs; Makamae Du Pont 2-2, 2 runs, 2 RBI; Andrew DolanLewis 2 RBI.
