Kailua outlasted Kaiser 6-1 in Wednesday’s opening round of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Baseball Championships at Maehara Stadium on Maui.
Here’s more on the Surfriders’ win.
Ryan McMonigle’s one mistake, a hanging curve, left the part courtesy of Kaiser slugger Kaipo Oamiloa-Scholtz. That homer pulled the Cougars within 2-1, but they couldn’t put together enough hits the rest of the way.
“I’m not going to blow it past anyone,” McMonigle said. “We have a good ‘D,’ so I might as well let them work.”
Alan Baldwin drove in two runs for the Surfriders, who will play second-seeded Saint Louis at 2 p.m. today in a quarterfinal matchup.
Kailua was ready for the cross winds of Maehara, a site that sits close to the shore.
“We knew that’s how the wind is. We tried to prep for it,” Kailua coach Corey Ishigo said. “Ryan did what he had to do. He made one mistake. He got upset, then he got focused after that. The fastball was his money pitch today.”
The Surfriders (20-6 overall) haven’t played Saint Louis this season.
“The ILH is always tough,” Ishigo said. “It’ll be fun. Everybody in the state tournament is fun.”
The Crusaders, who won the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title for the first time since 1989, will likely start ace Christopher Chung.
“He reminds me of Kevin Matsumoto,” Ishigo said of his former pitcher, who is now at Hawaii Pacific. “The velocity, the hard slider, the change and split.”
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