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Warriors edge Bears 3-2 for title

Waiakea largely shuts down Baldwin’s offense, claims 2nd state crown

By Robert Collias 6 min read

WAILUKU -- With six state titles and 10 appearances in the Division I championship game, the Baldwin High School baseball team is the unquestioned leader of the pack among Neighbor Island programs in the 50th state.

Waiakea, however, is rapidly catching up with the Bears.

The Warriors (11-0) beat the Bears 3-2 in front of 1,453 fans at Maehara Stadium on Saturday night in the third Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I state championship matchup between the two teams in the last 11 years.

This one was an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

Waiakea won its second state crown -- its first came in 2012 when it beat Baldwin in the championship game. Baldwin beat Waiakea for the 2018 state crown.

"First, hats off to Baldwin, great team, great coaching, class act, first class," Waiakea coach Chris Honda said. "Proud of these boys, they played well. We just stuck to our game plan: catch and throw, execute the fundamentals, throw strikes, keep them off the bases."

The Warriors did that to near perfection -- they turned two inning-ending double plays and three pitchers needed just 98 pitches to shut down the Bears, who had just three hits and left only three runners stranded.

Honda and Baldwin coach Craig Okita were teammates at the University of Hawaii-Hilo in the early 1990s.

"They're a tough team, they're dangerous, they're scrappy and they're a a really good ball club," Honda said of the Bears. "I have a lot of respect for Baldwin."

Saturday marked Baldwin's fifth state championship game since 2010 and Waiakea's fourth since 2012. Baldwin said goodbye to a stellar class of eight seniors, six of whom started the state final.

"Looking back, we did have a good season, it's just very devastating we weren't able to capitalize in this one," Okita said, "It hurts. It hurts for the seniors, it hurts me for the seniors, you know what I mean? We had our chances -- I knew it would be a tight game. We didn't get the breaks -- for some reason we couldn't square up the ball tonight as well as we should have."

The top-seeded Bears (16-1) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth inning when senior shortstop Wehiwa Aloy tripled and scored one out later on a single to center by Levi Maddela.

The Warriors scored all three of their runs in the fifth.

Up until then Baldwin pitcher Davin Lewis cruised through the first four innings, but he walked three in the fifth and all of them scored -- the tying run scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of Kyson Wada and the final two scored on a single by Kedren Kinzie.

"At the end of the day, that one loss really meant something to us," said Aloy, who is headed to Sacramento State University to continue his career. "For us seniors especially, we're not going to have another chance. The better team won today and we didn't come out firing as we should have."

Lewis was the hard-luck losing pitcher despite surrendering just three hits in a complete game.

The Bears went in order in the fifth and sixth -- relief pitcher Justice Dorser struck out four in a row before running into trouble in the seventh when he walked Kuhio Aloy and Maddela.

That spelled the end for Dorser, but Wada came in and got out of the jam on six pitches.

Lewis bunted to move the runners to second and third and Christian Dominno hit a sacrifice fly to bring the Bears within a run, but Wada induced a harmless fly out to right field by Anu Chaves to end the game.

Dorser was named the tournament's most outstanding player after picking up his second win on the mound in the tournament. Wada was credited with a save.

It was a stunning and quick end for the Bears, who rolled through the MIL 14-0 and won their first two state tournament games by a combined score of 23-8.

Okita coached eight players on this Baldwin roster to the 2019 Senior League world championship.

On this championship night, the magic disappeared.

"They got the hits at the right time and they capitalized, so, yeah, it's a tough one," Okita said of Waiakea.

Two years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the Bears had 18 players on their roster with world championship youth titles under their belts.

There's little question that they would have been state title contenders each of those seasons.

Seniors Wehiwa Aloy, Lewis and Makane Honokaupu were all selected by the assembled media to the all-tournament team.

"Yeah, definitely to get us back on track, the seniors were all captains and they've set the bar again," Okita said. "You know, coming back the bar was nowhere. ... Hoping the underclassmen feel this burn, remember this burn and use it as motivation to get better, to get stronger, and try to make a run again next year."

Maddela, a junior pitcher/first baseman, will no doubt be one of the leaders for the Bears next season.

"After the loss it makes me want to grind more," Maddela said. "I hope next year's team will want to grind even harder. Yeah, I would like to get back out here and win states."

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com.

Baldwin 000 100 1--2 3 1

Waiakea 000 030 x--3 3 0

Davin Lewis and Anu Chaves; Kaleb Dela Cuesta Sato, Justice Dorser (4), Kyson Wada (7) and Elijah Igawa. W--Dorser. L--.Lewis. Sv--Wada. 3B--Baldwin, Wehiwa Aloy.

Leading hitters--Waiakea, Wada 2-3, RBI.

*****

CONSOLATION FINAL

IOLANI 6, MAUI HIGH 3

Iolani 001 000 5--6 9 3

Maui High 000 012 0--3 3 2

Izack Takazawa, Trent Ihle (3), Isaac Ahokovi (5), Bruin Agbayani (5), Matthew Kaneshiro (6), Nakoa Siu (7) and Brock Makishima; Akoni Fujihara-Olsten, Jackson Nuese (6) and Nicholas Nashiwa, E.J. Ramones (6). W--Kaneshiro. L--Nuese. Sv--Siu. 2B--Iolani, Travis Ujimori. 3B--Iolani, Agbayani.

Leading hitters--Iolani, Ujimori 2-3, run, 2 RBIs; Agbayani 2-3, run, 3 RBIs; Jonah Velasco 2-2.

*****

FIFTH-PLACE GAME

PEARL CITY 6, HILO 5, 4 INNINGS

Pearl City 231 0--6 8 1

Hilo 002 3--5 5 4

Devin Hayashi, Tyler Nishimura (2), Jayden Mizuno (3) and Kody Hayashi, Kobie Corpuz (3), Kenta Kawasaki (4); Xaige Lancaster, Kaimana Kuamoo (2), Jayden Geraci (3), Legend Lancaster (4) and Elijah Hall, Zion Palea (4). W--Nishimura. L--X. Lancaster. 2B--Pearl City, Corpuz; Hilo, X. Lancaster. 3B--Hilo, Kamren Agpaiza.

*****

THIRD-PLACE GAME

SAINT LOUIS 9, KAILUA 1, 6 INNINGS

Kailua 000 010--1 0 2

Saint Louis 630 000--9 9 1

Orion Medeiros, Kahiapo McKeague (2), Racen Gauthe-Santos (4) and Kaelan Kauahi, Hunter Silva (4); Laakea Correa, Kolby Gushiken (3), Aiva Arquette (4), Tanner Chun (5), Sean Yamaguchi (6) and Jacob Villacorte, Reyn Gaspar (4). W--Arquette. L--Medeiros. 2B--Saint Louis, Dennis Makamae Du Pont.

Leading hitters--Saint Louis, Blayne Nuu Contrades 2-3, 2 runs, RBI; Du Pont 2-2, 2 runs, 2 RBIs.

*****

Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Championship

DIVISION I

At Maehara Stadium

Saturday's Results

Consolation final--Iolani 6, Maui High 3

Fifth place--Pearl City 6, Hilo 5, 4 innings

Third place--Saint Louis 9, Kailua 1, 6 innings

Championship--Waiakea 3, Baldwin 2

Starting at /week.