Cougars Ready To ‘Clean Up’ At State Baseball Finals

Had Kaiser’s baseball team scripted its season on paper beforehand, its final destination would have been University of Hawaii’s Les Murakami Stadium, scene of this week’s Division I state baseball championships.

With that in mind, the Cougars can’t help but feel as if they are right on schedule, thanks to their fourth-place finish at the recent OIA DI tournament.

As with the rest of the 11-team field, the Cougars are looking at a fresh slate at the state tournament. Pairings for the tournament, which will be played Wednesday through Saturday, were to be announced Sunday.

A look at the state tournament prospects for Kaiser High are below.

The Kaiser File

Record: 9-6 overall (The Cougars went 8-4 in the OIA DI East’s regular season on their way to earning the No. 2 seed for the conference date, with 30.7 and 22.9, respectively, so expect both to figure big again for Kaiser this week.

Sakatani enters the state tournament still undefeated at 4-0, having earned wins against Castle, Kalani, Moanalua and Roosevelt. He’s also batting in the clean- up spot, or No. 5 spot in the Kaiser batting hierarchy.

Simeona is usually in the No. 2 slot in the Kaiser batting order, and he’s responded by hitting .282 to go with 11 RBI and five stolen bases. Lincoln Lima (.324) and Emmett Garcia (team-high 12 RBI) also have been among the Cougars’ offensive leaders.