It took a three year wait for the the Waiakea Warriors baseball team to win a second state title. The Warriors defeated the Baldwin Bears 3-2, at Iron Maehara Stadium to win the Division I State Baseball Championship.
Senior Warrior Kedren Kinziedrove in the go ahead runs with a two out, two-run base hit in the bottom of the fifth.
Warrior pitcher, Kyson Wada, with the tying run on second, in the top of the seveth inning, produced a fly ball to right field to secure the victory. The game was a rematch the 2018 state finals that the Bears won.
The Warriors (11-0), who had reached the semifinals in three consecutive years, made it to the final in two of those appearances. However, the COVID-19 pandemic decimated the state tournament in 2020 and 2021.
Wada, the third hitter in the line up for the team, was hitless in two privious two games of the tournament. Wada played an important role in the final outcome of the championship game.
After he singled in his first two at-bats, he tied the game with an RBI groundout. Then, in the fifth, Kinzie’s hit ultimiatly scored the winning run.
Wada took the mound in the top of the seventh with runers on first and second. This was his first pitching appearance of the tournament.
The Bears moved the runners to second and third on a bunt. Then Baldwins Christian Dominno hit a sacrifice fly to center leaving the Bears only down by one run.
Wada was able to get a fly ball on the next pitch, to riight, with the tie run on second.
Waiakea Warriors had a difficult road to the final. In their first tournament game, the Warriors were trailing the Kalani Falcons by three runs. However, a six-run fourth innings led to a 6-3 victory.
They were trailing the Saint Louis Crusaders by 4-2 margin in the sixth inning of semifinals. However, they managed to win 5-4 to reach the final where they faced the Bears who hadn’t lost any game this season.
