LAHAINALUNA BASEBALL v. Kauai – February 25, 2012

Going in to shoot my first varsity baseball game of the season, I knew it was going to be a long day.  First, to Iron Maehara baseball stadium at 9:00am to catch Lahainaluna vs. Kauai in Baldwin’s baseball tournament. Shoot a couple of innings there then head over to Baldwin Gym for a day of shooting the MIL Wrestling Tournament.

The baseball game was actually quite good and competitive. A couple of innings turned into several innings as I shot a bunch of pictures on my Sigma 50-500. The Lunas looked good under the leadership of first year coach and former alum Blaine Bernades.  The defense appeared much sharper than it was in years past and you could definitely tell the coaches were being more communicative with the players in the field.

I was shooting with a D300 that I had just picked up from a pro photographer in Kihei who listed it at a crazy low price on Craigslist. Had to get used to to the controls but it definitely felt like a real camera in my hands, especially when firing off 4-5 fps on continuous mode. Unfortunately, the 8GB CF card I had with it was only good for about 800 pictures. Around the 6^th or 7^th inning, I ran out of space on my memory card. So guessed what happened as I packed up and started to head back to the truck? Yup – Bronson Kaina hit a towering home run to left field. And I wasn’t there to capture it as a picture! I was so pissed when I found out! Better go on Amazon and order a 16GB card ASAP!

All in all, I’m feeling optimistic about the baseball team’s chances this year. Definitely liking the D300 as well . . . I need to download a manual and figure out the controls!

Sophomore Kaimana Ancog

Meeting on the Mound: (L to R) JR Kenolio-Dusenberry, Kaimana Ancog, Marcus Badua,
Bronson Kaina, Sosaia Moala and Komoana Kalanikau

Lead-off hitter Dustin Ompoy

Freshman Kamoana Kalanikau

Kamoana Kalanikau

JR Kenolio-Dusenberry

Sosaia Moala prepares to throw out the baserunner at first (Bronson Kaina)

Kamoana Kalanikau makes a nice play to tag out the base stealer

JR Kenolio-Dusenberry

Dustin Ompoy with a great over-the-shoulder running catch in dead center

Sosaia Moala

Sosaia Moala

Dustin Ompoy

Kaimana Ancog

Gerardo Ramirez

Sosaia Moala makes a nice diving catch in left field

Although I ran out of memory on my D300 when Bronson Kaina smacked his home run,
let's just pretend that this was his home run swing

Bronson needs just a little bit more momentum to slide to the 3rd base bag

Kaimana Ancog

Dustin Ompoy to close it out

For more pictures, click here.

For Maui News article, click here.