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Pool play game 3 / Waipio 6, Rapid city, S.D. 4
Because Waipio already had locked up the No. 1 seed in Pool B play, head coach Timo Donahue sent seven pitchers to the mound against Midwest representative Rapid City, S.D., to make sure his starters were rested for the stretch drive.
“We tried to save our pitching since we had nothing to lose,” Donahue explained. “We faced the same type of situation in regionals, so we were prepared for this.”
The South Dakota team was 0-2 and in search of at least one win before going home, but it wasn’t meant to be, as Waipio rallied for a 6-4 victory. Waipio’s Keelen Obedoza broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth with a two-run homer that proved to be the margin of victory.
“I was pretty excited to hit a homer,” Obedoza said. “It had been a while since I hit like that.”
The game was close prior to that big blast. Hawaii took a 1-0 lead in the second on an RBI double by Kainoa Fong. South Dakota came back to score three runs in the fourth to take the lead, but Waipio answered with three runs of its own to regain it. The key hit was a two-run double by Khade Paris.
Cale Fierro tied it again at 4-all in the fifth with a solo homer, but it just set up the heroics of Obedoza in the bottom of the fifth to seal the deal.
It left South Dakota without a win, but manager Doug Simons was still pleased with the effort.
“I was proud because they just kept fighting back,” Simons said. “The kids are sad it’s over, but they played a great team really well today.”
Waipio 6, Midwest 4
| Midwest | AB | R | H | BI | Waipio | AB | R | H | BI |
| Simons ss | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Donahue ss | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnick c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Tokunaga ss/2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Fierro 1b/rf | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | Paris 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Riddle rf | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Winchester 3b | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Hagen 1b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Yap c/lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anderson lf/ph | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ling ph/lf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Petereit lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Duhay cf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Winter spr | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Ulep cf | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wevik ss/rf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Andrade lf/rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Winter cf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Farm lf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilson cf | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Fong 2b/cf | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Hendricks 3b/ph | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Obedoza rf/c | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Hanson 3b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Nolan 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Totals | 22 | 4 | 4 | 2 | Totals | 25 | 6 | 9 | 6 |
| Midwest | 000 | 310 | - | 4 | 4 | 3 | |||
| Waipio | 010 | 32x | - | 6 | 9 | 1 |
E-Obedoza; Minnick; Hagen; Nolan. 2B-Fong; Winchester. HR-Fierro; Obedoza. SB-Fierro; Riddle.
| Midwest | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Simons | 4 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Riddle (L) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Waipio | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
| Donahue | 11/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tokunaga | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Duhay | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Fong | 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Farm | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Andrade (W) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Obedoza (S) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HBP-Obedoza (by Simons); Wevik (by Farm); Simons (by Farm); Ling (by Simons); Wevik (by Andrade). PB-Minnick 2.
Umpires-Masnayon (Plate); Lowe (First); Mano (Second); Mecham (Third).
T-1:52. A-11,300.
