Baseball Mules Work On Execution
By Jack Danilewicz
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As Lane Watanuki prepares his Leilehua baseball team for this week’s series with neighboring Mililani, the emphasis is firmly on his own team rather than the opposition.
“I think the rivalry thing gets blown out of proportion,” said Watanuki, who spent 20 years as Campbell’s head coach and is now in his first year as the head coach at Leilehua. “A lot of these kids grew up together, so I wouldn’t even call it a rivalry. I know a lot of the kids and their parents, too. I look at it as just another game. They’re big games because every game is a big game.”
Indeed, with just a 12-game schedule, there is little margin for error in the Red West race. The schools meet at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fred Wright Park and at 3:30 p.m. Friday on the Mililani campus.
Entering last Friday’s home opener with Kapolei, the Mules had played just one game - two fewer than Mililani, which had opened its own season with a doubleheader against two-time defending OIA champion Pearl City and the first of two meetings with Aiea for an 0-3 start.
Leilehua lost its first league game 7-6 at Kapolei. While that game left a sour taste in Mule mouths, it also provided many teachable moments, according to Watanuki.
“The kids were down and out after that game,” he said. It was a game in which Leilehua led 5-0 entering the last half of the fourth inning.“Any loss is disappointing. When you don’t execute defensively, when you don’t clutch hit offensively and shoot yourselves in the foot, you will lose.
“It’s a matter of picking themselves up now. Execution is the name of the game, and we didn’t do that. It was a good learning experience for our kids.”
Hard lessons also have come by way of the classroom, as a handful of Mules were held out of some of preseason with grade issues, but Watanuki expected his roster to be ready this week. With only six seniors and the rest underclassmen, they will be on a quest for consistency in coming weeks.
“Our team is young, but that’s not an excuse. So it was expected that we were going to hit some bumps in the road. It’s a matter of adjusting and learning from our mistakes. If we can do that, we’ll improve.”
To date, Leilehua has been led by senior center fielder Edieson Dumlao.“Right now, he’s accepting his role as being a leader,” Watanuki said of Dumlao, who went 2-for-4 at the plate in the OIA opener versus Kapolei.“A lot of the younger kids look up to him for that, and hopefully it will grow on him. He knows what it takes, so now it’s time to share that experience.
“He’s a good all-around player. He has a good bat, and he’s a smart player.”
In Mililani, the Mules will face a team with “a big pitching staff.”
“They’re all great pitchers,” Watanuki admitted. “It’s only a matter of time before they turn things around. Mark (Hirayama) is an excellent coach, and their record is deceiving since they’ve already played Pearl City, which is one of the top teams in the state.”
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