After ending a 17-year drought since its last ILH championship, top seed Kamehameha is seeking to put to bed an even longer one in states.
Sophomore Alaka’i Kiakona took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and Aydan Lobetos made up for Kiakona’s only hit allowed by throwing out the lead runner at third from right field on the play to help preserve the Warriors’ 4-0 shutout of Campbell on Thursday night at Les Murakami Stadium.
Jayden Montero singled for Kamehameha’s first hit of the game to lead off the fifth inning and scored two runs with three stolen bases to help the Warriors (15-6) advance to the Division I final of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships for the first time since 2006.
Kamehameha will go for its first state title since 2003 against MIL champion Baldwin in a matchup of the top two seeds tonight at 7.
“We have the utmost respect for Baldwin and their program. It’s a tremendous baseball community,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said. “It’s going to be a showdown, of course, a challenge, and we’re looking forward to it.”
The Warriors can sweep ILH and state titles with underclassmen playing a major role all season.
Kiakona, who had pitched into the sixth inning only once this season, struck out 10 in 61⁄3 innings to earn the win.
Kamehameha led 4-0 in the top of the sixth when Kiakona issued a leadoff walk for the fourth time.
Ridge Choy followed with Campbell’s first hit, a single to right field that was fielded cleanly by Lobetos, who came up firing to gun down speedy shortstop Kayne Carlos trying to get from first to third on the play.
Instead of two runners in scoring position with nobody out, Campbell had a man on second with one out. Kiakona, who walked six, struck out the next two batters to end the inning.
“That was huge. Obviously that was so big for us and it helped me get out of the inning way easier,” Kiakona said. “That pumped me up real good.”
Kiakona, the second straight sophomore to start for Kamehameha in the state tournament, kept Campbell hitters guessing all game long. He walked six and hit a batter but allowed only one runner to reach third.
“I was having some trouble with command issues, but I feel like once we got the three runs in the third, I had to lock in and throw more strikes and obviously that paid off,” Kiakona said.
Kiakona was pulled with one out and a runner on first after 108 pitches. Sophomore Logan Sanchez, who struck out the only batter he faced to finish a quarterfinal win over Kamehameha-Maui, struck out both batters he faced against the Sabers (14-3) to earn his second save in as many days.
Greyson Osbun, who allowed two hits in six scoreless innings to earn the win in the quarters, is also a sophomore.
“Age doesn’t matter to me. Whoever can lead our team I have no problem putting them out there,” Kitagawa said.
Neither team had a hit in the first three innings, yet Kamehameha managed to build a 3-0 lead.
Campbell starter Shaveh Sarono sat down the first seven batters he faced and got to a three-ball count only once until walking Montero, who promptly stole second and third and scored on Pono Nakano’s sacrifice fly to right.
Sarono issued his second walk to Elijah Ickes and was pulled for reliever Morgan Lavin, who walked Jace Souza on four pitches to load the bases.
Aukai Kea followed with a grounder to third that was thrown away at first, allowing two runs to score for the 3-0 lead.
“This whole year we’ve got a different kind of team,” Kitagawa said. “We’re playing defense better than we have in the past, we can steal bags, we do some of the little things better and every player on our team is critical to this team. I’m not afraid to call upon them anytime and they all understand that.”
The top two seeds will meet in the final for the first time since Campbell defeated Mid-Pacific in 2015. The Division II final between Damien and Kauai will take place before it at 4 p.m.
