Summer Team Working On Offense

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Coach Greg McMackin greets the crowd at the Kailua Fourth of July parade. Photo by Nathalie Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The waiting, as Tom Petty once sang, is the hardest part. As his Windward baseball team prepared for its American Legion League season finale at Waipahu Wednesday, head coach Delson Kaluhiokalani was still awaiting the offensive breakthrough he had foreseen at the beginning of summer.

“It’s been a tough season, offensively,” said Kaluhiokalani, whose team takes an even 10-10 record into the Marauders’ game.“We’ve been hitting the batting cage at Kailua (high school) lately, and we’ve seen some improvement - we’re still hitting the ball at people - but we’re not finding the holes. Except for Scotty (Talaesea), we’re not a power-hitting team, we’re a ‘contact hitting’ team.”

Kaluhiokalani declared Wednesday’s game a “must-win” if Windward, which is comprised of players from Castle, Kahuku, Kalaheo and Kailua, is to advance to the state tournament. Even so, his team likely will need a little outside help to make the league’s top eight. Twenty-one teams were in the league this summer, with teams playing each other only once.

Windward lost its last outing 6-2 at Kapolei July 1 in large part because of its slumping offense, according to Kaluhiokalani.

“After six innings, we had only four hits, three by Scotty, and unfortunately it seems like when Scotty has come up, we haven’t had anybody on (base). We’ll definitely have to hit the ball better. We’re getting people on base; we’re not driving them in.”

Talaesea, who starred for Corey Ishigo at Kailua this past spring, is batting over .400 for Windward this summer as its designated hitter to lead the team.

“He’s been by far our best hitter and the only guy who has really hit throughout. He’s been consistent. We had some guys who hit earlier in the season but who have struggled lately. We’ve been trying to get them to hit-and-run a little more, but we haven’t been executing that too well. We’ve been stressing that is what we have to do to win.”

The good news for Windward to date has been the steady performances of a deep and talented pitching staff.

“We don’t have a dominant pitcher, but the pitching has been the best part - it’s been a constant,” said Kaluhiokalani.“We’ve struggled defensively, and the offense has been off and on. We also have a lot of guys working, and some have had to miss a game here and there.”

Kaluhiokalani will go with Jared Tamanaha on the mound for Wednesday’s game. Tamanaha, who played for Kailua in the spring, recently returned from a trip with the West Oahu All Star team.

“He’s been consistent (as a pitcher), and we like to have him in at third when we can because he can hit, too,“Kaluhiokalani said.

Windward also features catcher Raynor Yokoi (Castle), pitcher/shortstop Zach Akamine (Kailua), right fielder Kaliko Cayetano-Tamashiro (Castle), center fielder Ryan Kinoshita (Kailua) and pitcher Josh Serrano (Castle).

The ALL playoffs begin later this month, with the state champion advancing to the Western Regionals of the National Tournament in August.