Falcon Baseball: Trying To Overcome Those Mental Errors

Wednesday - April 04, 2007
By Jack Danilewicz
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In an OIA East race where the margin for error is minimal, the Kalani baseball team has learned that its greatest chore is to get out of its own way first.

“We’re our worst enemy right now,” said coach Shannon Hirai, whose team took a 1-1 record into the weekend.

“I think we’re pressing too much instead of just relaxing and playing the game. We’ve made a lot of mental errors because we’re trying to do too much. We’re trying to out-think everybody.”

The Falcons entered the 2007 regular season as one of the pre-season favorites, after finishing 8-4 last year. Several current players were also key contributors over the summer when they teamed up with Kaiser players and others to form Falcon Baseball, which reached the Final Four of the West Regional of the American Legion League national tournament.


Kalani returned from a Mainland trip only four days before its season-opener with Roosevelt. The Falcons closed out their pre-season slate with games against teams from Michigan and Arizona.

“I think the (pre-season) schedule helped us to know we can play with the better teams,” said Hirai, whose team followed up a 10-2 loss to Roosevelt and a 10-0 win over Kalaheo. “Our problem now is staying focused. We tend to overlook teams, thinking we’ll just win because we’re who we are instead of earning it. We rise to the occasion against the good teams, and we look mediocre against the mediocre teams.”

They host Farrington at Kahala Field Wednesday and visit Kahuku Saturday. Both teams were a combined 1-5 entering the weekend, so Kalani has a good chance to take a 3-1 record into a much-anticipated April 11 matchup with Kaiser, which was tied with Kailua atop the East heading into last weekend. Kaiser won the East’s regular-season title last spring, while Kalani last won the East in 2005.

Veterans Jordan Sumida, Ridge Carpenter, Terrence Lum and Shamus Kumashiro have carried the Falcons to date, but relative newcomers Dillion Matsuda and Wataru Noguchi could see their roles expand in the coming weeks.


Sophomore Matsuda picked up the Kalaheo win last week in three innings of relief work, while freshman Noguchi “had the RBI (a two-run double) that got everything going for us (against the Mustangs).”

“He hit the ball really well in pre-season, and now he’s starting to come around again. Our freshmen and sophomores have stepped it up.”

Senior pitcher Micah Takahashi has been sidelined with a back injury lately and will likely not play until the back-end of the schedule. He missed most of his junior season with an injury after having been an All-East selection in 2005.

“Right now, we’re resting him to get him ready for the second half of the season,” Hirai said.

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