The Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) baseball playoffs kicked off Monday with one quarterfinal matchup and three semifinal matchups in the Division I and Division-II brackets.
Konawaena punched its ticket to the DI semis with an 11-1 win over Kealakehe over five innings. The Wildcats will be the No. 4 seed and take on first-seeded Waiakea in the semifinals, which will begin this afternoon with Game 1 in Hilo.
On the other side of the DI bracket, second-seeded Kamehameha-91直播 baseball edged No. 3 Hilo 5-4, scoring the winning run at the bottom of the eighth. The Warriors posted 12 hits to the Vikings’ six, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Brock Ayudan led the winners with three hits, while teammates Eriz Passi and Eli Mercado each hot two. Iokepa Martines, Dayton Hanson, Kaikoa Nobriga, Blayze Leslie and Haez Coloma each had one base hit.
On the mound, Nobriga and Hunter Yamamoto split time pitching with 4.0 innings each. They combined for five strikeouts and walked just one total batter.
Cole Hatayama led Hilo with two hits including a triple, while Tyson Santiago, Liam Villanueva, Ghage Daquep and Logan Schlueter each had one.
Braden Oda and Kainui Keopuhiwa shared time on the mound for the Vikings.
Game 2 of the series will be held this afternoon at Hilo High, as the Vikings will look to extend their season while the Warriors will aim to advance.
Over in the Division-II bracket, top seed Honoka‘a handled business against No. 4 Kohala — winning 11-0 in five innings to take the 1-0 series lead. The perfect 12-0 Dragons logged eight hits to the Cowboys’ zero.
Isaac DeRego led the winners with a homer, while teammates Rory Crabbe and Josyah Napoleon-Umeda each tallied two. Jayden Salazar and Kalae Lindsey also logged base hits.
Napoleon-Umeda also pitched a gem on the mound, striking out 10 while allowing no hits over 4.0 innings. Crabbe closed things up in the final inning, striking out two.
Kaimana Nakamura and Kaua Reyes spent time pitching for the black and gold.
Game 2 will be held today in Kapa‘au, with the Dragons looking to complete the sweep.
On the other side of the DII bracket, second-seeded HPA handled No. 3 Ka‘u 8-1 in Waimea, posting nine hits to the Trojans’ one.
Wyley Ament led Ka Makani with three hits, which were all doubles. Teammate Carsen Hoover had two hits, including a double. Teammates Ed Lustik, Leon Kikukawa, Daviud Culbertson and Kahea Leleiwi each had one hit.
Lustik was HPA’s lone pitcher, striking out seven over 92 pitches.
Kamahao Alcoran singled for the Trojans, which was their only hit of the afternoon. Caleb Crook was the team’s lone pitcher, striking out six and giving up eight runs over 105 pitches.
See the paper all week for baseball and softball playoff updates.
