Castle Counting On Pitchers In Game Against Moanalua
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usThe Castle baseball team’s No. 1 priority as it enters Wednesday’s 3:30 p.m. game with visiting Moanalua is to first avoid beating itself, said co-head coach Chad Uyehara.
The rest will take care of itself. “
They’re steady,” said Uyehara, who shares coaching duties with Brent Taniguchi. “They (Na Menehune) don’t make a lot of mistakes, so you can’t make mistakes against them because they’ll take advantage.
“We want to make sure we make the plays we’re supposed to make and support our great pitching staff.”
The Knights, who took an 1-2 record into last weekend, are counting on their veteran pitching to lead the way this spring. Seniors Pulama Silva, Bryan Raines and Josh Serano all have been mainstays on the roster, and they are arguably three of the OIA’s top pitchers.
“As a coach you’re lucky to have one or two of these guys,” he said, “and we have three. Pitching is our strength. All three will play at the next (collegiate) level. They’re equally good.
“Bryan is the bulldog of the group - he’s not afraid to come inside on a batter. Josh’s strength is his poise.You can’t tell if he’s pitching in a playoff game or playing catch with someone in his back yard. He doesn’t feel the pressure. Pulama brings a lot to the table. He knows what it takes to get batters out, and he has confidence.”
Having three college prospects in the lineup can only bode well for a team under the new OIA format. With the separation into Division I and DII, the Knights, like their peers, will play each conference school twice instead of once under the old system.
“Every day you have to bring your ‘A’ game,” Uyehara said.
The Knights faced one of the tougher preseason schedules in the state, having played four-time defending state champion Punahou three times, in addition to games with traditional powers Iolani, Mid-Pacific and Saint Louis, among others.
“We played the best teams possible,“Uyehara said.“We wanted to see where we stand.”
Castle also has one of the tougher slates among their OIA East foes, having faced Roosevelt, Kailua and Kaiser in succession to begin league play. They defeated Kaiser 12-0 last Wednesday for their first win.
While the Knights have pinned their hopes this season to a senior-laden pitching staff, Uyehara is also banking on veterans Kainoa Tom, a senior shortstop, catcher Coby Agres and outfielder Kris Kahanu to make an impact.
Tom is the son of longtime Castle head coach Joe Tom, who remains on staff as an assistant. The younger Tom is currently lead-off hitter.
“Kainoa has blazing speed and baseball smarts,” Uyehara said of Tom, who serves as one of Castle’s captains along with Kahanu and senior Kaliko Cayetano-Tamashiro. “He’s always a threat - he puts a lot of pressure on pitchers. Coby is a good gap-to-gap hitter, and he has an eye for the zone. The best thing about Kris is his steadiness, and he has good speed.”
With pitching an obvious strength, the fate of the season could be tied to their offensive output.“We have some good hitters, but offense isn’t our strength.We’ll have to manufacture some runs. Once we get our engine rolling on offensive, it will be a big plus for us.”
On the heels of the Moanalua game,the Knights have an open date and then return to action March 25 at McKinley High.
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