Mililani ekes by Kamehameha to reach final

The Mililani baseball team is one step away from going the distance, thanks to Zayne Hookala showing it the way.

Hookala, a Hawaii commit, held Kamehameha down enough to earn a 3-2 victory in the semifinals of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Baseball Championships at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday. The Trojans have been this far three times, falling in the championship to ILH teams in 2013, 2014 and 2019.

They will play Pac-Five of the ILH in today’s final at 7 p.m. on the Manoa campus.

Both of Kamehameha’s runs were unearned as Hookala kept them off balance throughout, allowing just six singles and striking out three batters.

“I love this place, it’s amazing the atmosphere,” Hookala said of his future home. “For four years I have been trying to get to the state championship and I finally got here with my boys.”

The ILH champion rallied against Hookala in the seventh, with Tyson Uyehara drawing the first walk Mililani yielded in the tournament and Mahiehie Kawai following with a blast to left field that was misplayed and dropped for a single. After a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Caleb Flores, Coen Sardinha walked to put the tying run on second with the go-ahead run at first with two outs. Kaikea Patoc-Young swung at the first pitch he saw and bounced a ball to the right side, where first baseman Jonah Parker fielded it and threw to second to touch off the celebration.

“I knew it, I just felt like they were going to have their best inning in the last inning,” Hookala said. “I just had to calm myself down. I just wanted to mix it up, I know they are a good fastball-hitting team, so I didn’t want to give them anything to smash, even though they did. It’s all right, it happens.”

Hookala was at 99 pitches and ended it on his 100th. Mililani’s bullpen was the only quiet place in the stadium.

“He is a competitor, he wasn’t coming out for sure,” Mililani coach Mark Hirayama said. “We just trust what he has and have the guys behind him to back him up. He has been the same guy his whole high school career. He is a guy who wants to be in the big situations and fortunately he was able to go today.”

Hookala celebrated coming off the mound after a 1-2-3 first inning and was in the tunnel trying to calm down when his Trojans went to work against Kamehameha starter Patoc-Young. Koa Marzo and Knox Marzo hit his first two deliveries for singles and the USC commit compounded the problem by throwing a pickoff attempt into center field to move the runners up. Parker brought them in with a pop that landed in front of the Hawaii logo.

“They had a great pitcher on the mound. We had to be aggressive and hit the first good strike we see,” Hirayama said. “If that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes.”

The Warriors got one back in the fourth when Kino Adams beat out a 6-4-3 double play and Ryeder Takahashi, who led off the inning with a single, scored from second when the first baseman bobbled the ball.