Falcons Traveling A Tough Road To The State Tourney

Wednesday - April 02, 2008
By Jack Danilewicz
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Kalani’s Joey Asuncion makes a pitch. Photo by Nathalie Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Should the Kalani baseball team make a second straight state tournament appearance next month, head coach Shannon Hirai and the Falcons will have definitely taken the long, hard route.

The Falcons’ 12-game Oahu Interscholastic Association Red East schedule guaranteed as much, with each league member to play each other twice in the newly formed Division I. As Kalani reached the midway of its regular season last week, there was also little doubt that Hirai’s team had received every opponent’s best effort to date.

“We’ve faced everyone’s No. 1 pitcher, except Castle,” said Hirai. “Even when we played Roosevelt, which didn’t start their No. 1, we saw him late in the game.”

The Falcons’ non-league schedule also included games with Mainland powers North Monterey (CA), East Union (MS) and Maria Carrillo (CA).


“Our pre-season (schedule) really helped,” Hirai said. “We’re starting to get on a roll now, and it seems like a good time for it. I like the new format (which separates Division I and II). It’s a battle every game. I think it should help the OIA schools in the state tournament. Everyone in the league has two or three good pitchers, and the new format forces everyone to develop their No. 3 and even No. 4 pitchers.”

Such is the margin for error in the Red East that a few plays can make a huge difference. The Falcons entered last Friday’s key game with rival Kaiser having won two in a row, including a riveting 5-4 triumph over Roosevelt last Wednesday. While the win over the Rough Riders gave Kalani a 3-3 record at the midway point of its season, Hirai and the Falcons saw their game with league front-runner Kailua on March 19 as a turning point. The Falcons had taken a 4-1 lead into the fourth inning of that game before eventually falling 8-5 to the Surfriders, who had a 5-1 mark through the East Red’s First Round.

“We gained a lot of confidence after that game,” said Hirai, whose team followed up the Kailua game with a 21-2 rout of McKinley on March 22.“The kids are playing good baseball right now. Seeing everyone once already, they know they can play with anyone and they’re looking forward to trying to prove it.”

Hirai sees pitching as a big key for the Falcons in the coming weeks and called junior reliever Dylan Von Wiegandt “our biggest surprise.”


“He’s probably pitching the best right now of any of our pitchers,” Hirai said of Von Wiegandt, who is a right-handed pitcher. “He’s been ahead in the count and he’s keeping the ball down, which is why we’ve been going with him. He’s been coming in every other game.”

Von Wiegandt earned the win recently in Kalani’s victory over Roosevelt. Offensively, it was senior third baseman Troy Kashiwabara who drove the Falcons across the finish line in that game when he delivered a run-scoring single to spring Jake Massey with the winning run with two out in the top of the seventh.

“He’s been coming up with some big hits,” Hirai said of Kashiwabara.

Sophomores Sean Nii and Kiel Odo also have had a big impact for the Falcons, according to their coach.

“Sean’s been doing a great job of running down balls in center field, and Kiel has done a great job catching for us,” Hirai said.

The Falcons return to action Friday when they play a road game against Moanalua at 3:30 p.m. Kalani also has regular-season games remaining against Castle (at home; 4/8), Kailua (away; 4/11), McKinley (home; 4/15) and Roosevelt (home 4/18).

 

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