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Photo By: Tom Patrick.
Throwing smoke: Trevor Takata
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Kaunakakai Ball Park was once again the scene of intense Little League baseball as a new season started last Saturday morning.
"This year is going to be a challenging year and a fun year," said the league's vice president Loke Kamakana. "The teams are all close [in] age, they're in the range of 10 year olds, so it's going to be a tight season."
Games will be held every Monday and Wednesday at 4 p.m. and Saturday mornings at 8 a.m. at the ballpark. The season's opening ceremony is to take place next Saturday before the games.
"We've got some good ball players; it'll be a very, very tough decision when it come to [choosing] all-stars," said Kamakana, referring to the selection process to determine which kids will play on the team to represent Molokai on Oahu. "Each individual coach brings in their picks of their all-stars players and we choose from there."
No date has been set for the state tournament.
Defending champs fall to Indians
Despite a last-ditch effort to make up lost ground in the top of the sixth inning, the league's defending champs, the Kaunakakai White Sox, fell to the Kaunakakai Indians, 7-5.
Coming into the final inning down 7-2, some careless pitching and aggressive base running almost opened the door for the White Sox to extend the ballgame. After stealing second to get in scoring position, a single on a catching error at first let in the runner. With a man on second, consecutive wild pitches allowed the runner to take third and home to put the White Sox within three. The following batter got a green light with a walk, stole both second and third, and sneaked home on another wild pitch. However, a pair of strikeouts put the game to rest.
"My team's fighters, they're fighters," said White Sox coach Kimo Paleka. "We should be alright in our next games - but if we cannot hit, we can not score."
The Indians took command of the game from the first pitch, with pitcher Hana Enos sending the first batter back to the bench on three pitches. In fact, Enos closed the top of the inning with just 15 pitches.
In the bottom of the inning catcher/second baseman Trevor Takata opened the scoring, putting home two with a triple. The first ended with the Indians up by three with one more coming home on a single by Enos.
"They gave away a couple of runs," said Indians' coach Guy Takata. "But at least they held on.
"They're pretty young; they're pretty new. We've got a lot to work on," he added, when asked about his team.
Athletics show some athleticism in win
With a new coach and just two returners, Kualapu'u Athletics sunk the Mana'e Yankees 15-8 in the season opener for the two teams.
"Mostly the pitching and the hitting for us," said Athletics' head coach Ipo Albino, when asked what separated the two teams.
The Athletics' best inning came in the second when the team hit the five-cap-rule (getting the maximum five runs for an inning) to go up 8-2.
However, the Yankees were not without their big inning too, getting four runs in the fourth, aided by four walks.
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