Kalani Coach Sees Advantage In Fourth-seed Placement

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Kalani’s Shamus Kumashiro goes to bat against
the Castle Knights last Wednesday at Kahala
Field. Kalani won the game 5-1. Photo by Byron
Lee, staff photographer.

With its long-standing goal of making the upcoming Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Tournament weighing in the balance, the Kalani baseball team knows its 2006 campaign has been reduced to a ‘two-game’ season.

But Falcons coach Shannon Hirai doesn’t mind the pressure that goes with post-season play.

He’s hoping last year’s post-season experience will pay dividends this time around, when the Falcons begin Oahu Interscholastic Association Tournament play this week.

“It’s all going to be on confidence,” said Hirai. “We have a whole bunch of kids - seven or eight of them - who were put in this situation a year ago. This is what they’ve talked about all year. They’re pretty anxious to get this started.”

Kalani needs to win its first-round game Tuesday against Waianae (4 p.m. at Kahala Field) as well as a second-round encounter Wednesday to qualify for the semifinals and an automatic berth in the upcoming state tournament. The top four teams from the OIA Tournament earn automatic berths.

In a season marked by parity in both the OIA East and West, the number of contenders in this week’s tournament are many.

“When you look at the standings in both the East and West, only a game separates the top four or five teams,” said Hirai, whose team is the No. 4 seed out of the East. “That will make it interesting. Anybody can win it.”

Kalani last won the OIA Tournament in 1971, but this week the Falcons figure to have one of their better opportunities in recent years to make an impact in the tournament. The East’s regular-season champion in 2005, Kalani came back to post a 7-3 mark this season. East rival Kailua has dominated the OIA’s post-season of late, winning in five of the last six years, including last season.

Kalani Falcon Ridge Carpenter amps
up his pitch against Castle last
Wednesday at Kahala Field. Kalani
won the game 5-1, earning a home
game. Photo by Byron Lee. staff
photographer.

The Falcons’ own title hopes could get a boost if senior pitcher Micah Takahashi returns to the mound after missing a month with a back injury.

“We’re still not sure,” Hirai said of who would pitch Tuesday’s game. “He’s been going to re-hab with Hawaii Sports Medicine. He was cleared to practice last Tuesday.”

A change in the OIA’s scheduling this year will see the teams have a day off on Friday, with the championship game being played on Saturday. In past years, teams would play four games in as many days. Under the new format, a team’s No. 1 pitcher can pitch a first-round game on Tuesday and have an extra day of rest before returning to the mound for the Saturday encounter. Regardless of whether Takahashi can go, the Falcons figure to benefit from their depth.

“If you’re a No. 1 seed (playing for the first time on Wednesday), you won’t be as rested,” Hirai said. “To win the tournament, I don’t know if (being a No. 1 seed) is a fair advantage. I think an advantage goes to the teams playing on the first day.”

Eliminating self-inflicted wounds remained a priority late last week, the coach said. The Falcons overcame committing eight errors in a win over Kalaheo recently.

“Throughout the year, we’ve had four or five errors in every game - throwing errors, mostly. We’ve been hopping on them about it in practice. That’s something that’s killed us all year.”

Offensively, Kalani is coming off of some of its better outings as of late, tallying 15 and 13 runs, respectively, in back-to-back wins over Kaimuki and Kahuku.

Junior right fielder Ridge Carpenter has remained right around .722 for the regular season, up from just over .500 in the pre-season.

“He’s really exceeded expectations,” Hirai said of Carpenter. “He’s done it since pre-season. I didn’t think his average could go up, but it has. Last year, he’d have his bright moments and then disappear from the lineup. This year, he’s a lot more consistent.

“(Senior) Darren (Takemoto) has also come around for us,” he added. “We’ve finally started to hit the ball (overall) and actually haven’t been hitting at practice much because we’ve been trying to work on our defense. We seem a little bit more relaxed (at the plate).”