Sabers top Menehune for spot in 7th-place game
WAILUKU — Zach Dando, Luke Alwood and their seven fellow senior teammates will get to pull on their Maui High School baseball jerseys one last time today.
The Sabers made sure of that with a 7-3 win over Moanalua in a consolation semifinal at the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state tournament on Friday morning at Maehara Stadium.
Maui High (9-7) will play Iolani for seventh place at 10 a.m. today. The Sabers lost a heartbreaking 2-1 decision in 10 innings to Kalani on Wednesday in the first round, which sent them to the consolation breakfast bracket game on Friday.
“We’ve worked pretty hard over this past year — and it was hard to lose the other night, but getting the win today was pretty nice,” said Alwood, who has signed to play collegiately at Seattle University next year. “Like Dando said, there’s good talent still coming up and hopefully they can continue to do good things.”
Dando, a Major League Baseball draft prospect and MIL All-Star in football, said the loss to Kalani was tough, but the team responded in the consolation game where much of the roster saw the field.
“Our last game as a senior, it
was nice to get a win today, especially with the loss from the other night, but just excited to play tomorrow,” Dando said.
Dando, who has perhaps the biggest personality on the team, sighed when asked about his last day in a Maui High uniform.
“Oh, gosh, it’s a sad day, but we came a long way since my freshman year, so excited for the next chapter,” Dando said. “You know, there’s a lot of good talent on this team and I think all our coaches know that and I think next year they’re going to be able to take this tournament and this season into account and turn it around next year.”
After Moanalua scored twice in the top of the first, the Sabers erupted for six runs in the bottom of the opening frame, sending 10 batters to the plate.
Dando walked to lead off and stole second, and Tyson Teshima walked before Kahiau Teruya smacked an RBI double to left field to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Alwood hit a two-run single to give the Sabers the lead and one out later, Ky-mani Corpuz doubled to put runners on second and third. David Vergel de Dios reached on a catcher’s interference call to load the bases. Alex Alfonzo then hit an RBI ground out and Nakoa Benjamin followed with a tworun single.
The Sabers added a run in the third on an RBI single by Vergel de Dios.
Moanalua loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth, but Alfonzo got Aaron Yamamoto to ground out to second base to end the threat.
The consolation game was played on a two-hour time limit and both coaches took the chance to get many of their players into the game. Moanalua used five pitchers, the Sabers four.
“We came out swinging the bats, which was good,” Maui High coach Chase Corniel said. “Especially for the seniors, we wanted to get them a lot of playing time and get everybody experience.”
Today’s game will be more of the same, Corniel said.
“Oh, definitely, get more guys in, more playing time, more experience building up for everybody and we just want them to have a positive experience,” Corniel said.
HILO 5, MILILANI 0
The Vikings rebounded from their loss to Baldwin a night earlier to advance to the fifthplace game against Pearl City.
Eli Yamanaka pitched a complete-game four-hitter for Hilo with six strikeouts and two walks.
Hilo plays the Chargers for fifth place at 12:30 p.m. today.
PEARL CITY 5, KALANI 1
The Chargers advanced to the fifth-place game against Hilo with a combined threehitter from Shaine Fujii, Tyson McCaskill and Devin Hayashi.
The threesome combined to strike out nine and walk three. McCaskill pitched two scoreless innings and Hayashi pitched a scoreless seventh.