Freshman Alexa Welsh, middle, opened the season with a hat trick in an 8-0 win over Sarah Beth Walker, Sophia Fineman and Kadena. (Isaiah Ramirez/Special to Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – For the past couple of years, a Kadena High School instructor has coached Kubasaki’s baseball team, and helmed the Dragons to the Far East Division I Baseball Tournament title last May.
This season, Kubasaki’s first-year coach, Charles Redden, has a son, Kai, playing second base for the Dragons’ island-rival Panthers.
The elder Redden is the new Kubasaki Marine Corps Junior ROTC commander, having been in the Kadena community before he retired from the Marines last summer. But after Redden was brought in by Kubasaki, he said his son wanted to remain at Kadena High.
“He said, ‘Dad, I got my bros, I got my crew’” at Kadena, Charles Redden said of Kai. “Mine’s over there (Kubasaki). How is that possible? It’s kind of bittersweet. But they all know each other. So, it’s OK.”
Just how combative does it get within the family?
“It gets competitive,” Kai Redden said. “When we drive home at night, we kind of mess with each other.”
On top of all that, with Kadena’s home fields at the base’s Four Diamonds complex undergoing renovation, all Okinawa high school baseball games are being played at Foster Field 1, with the teams taking turns being the home ballclub.
Thus far, Kadena, which has never won the Far East D-I Tournament, is 3-0 against their archrivals, something that hasn’t happened since the pre-Far East days of Okinawa in the late 2000s.
“It’s a challenge,” Panthers coach Frank Macias said of not having a true home field. “But the dimensions here are similar to Iwakuni” and Matthew C. Perry High School, where he coached prior to coming to Okinawa four years ago.
Kubasaki lost its core three seniors, including starting pitchers Luka Koja and Lukas Gaines, as well as Asher Romnek to PCS.
But the Dragons return a veteran core including senior Skylar Waltz, his junior brother Marcus and got Bryant Lokey, a sophomore, via the transfer round out of Kaiserslautern.
“It’s kind of early,” Charles Redden said. “We’re still trying to figure out positions, strengths and weaknesses.”
The Panthers bring back senior pitching tandem Hajime Reed and Ty Lujan, among others on what’s a young ballclub.
“We have great leadership. We have great young players who are fighting to get onto the field,” Macias said.
Rey Koja, a sophomore, is the younger brother of former Kubasaki pitching ace Luka Koja. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Ethan Ferch has his eye on a return to the top of the Far East Division I heap in this his senior season at Kubasaki. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
One thing constant in Kadena junior Kai Redden's mind: The coach in the opposing Kubasaki dugout is his dad, Charles. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Like the Dragons baseball team, Kadena’s softball lineup bid farewell to three senior pitchers and last year’s Far East D-I Tournament Most Valuable Player Jada Wolfgang.
Coach Daniel Lynn and the Panthers are trying other pitching options in addition to returning junior Aubree Leidig: senior Jazlene Vergara and sophomores Genesis Afaisen and Journey Terlaje.
“They asked me to try it, we’re low on experienced pitchers, so here I am,” Vergara said between warmup pitches during Tuesday practice.
The shortstop cupboard isn’t quite bare, as sophomore Madison Lovelace has stepped in to that key spot.
“We have a young team (but) it feels as a whole, we’re better on average than we were at this time last year, despite losing all those pieces,” Lynn said.
Kubasaki also lost its pitching ace, Breslyn Weeks, to transfer. Michael Cottrell worked with Weeks the last couple of seasons and now takes over as head coach after assisting the last few seasons.
Senior Una Freeman is first in line to try to take over as the top pitching option. One consistent aspect of the Dragons’ lineup is Sam Diaz, a senior and team captain who returns behind the plate.
“Everything is a work in progress,” Cottrell said.
Senior Jazlene Vergara is one of a handful of pitching options being tried by Kadena. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kubasaki coach Michael Cottrell and senior catcher Sam Diaz try out a communication device that allows a coach to call pitches to the battery. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Two-time defending Far East D-I soccer champion Kadena retains the same core threesome that has led the Panthers to the last three D-I championship matches, of which they’ve won the last two.
Four-year starters Elijah Whipp, Rylan Swanson and Gabriel Cedeno return, Whipp up front, Swanson in the net and Cedeno at midfield.
But the Panthers know they’re carrying a bull’s-eye on front and back wherever they take the field this season.
“We are for sure,” seventh-year Panthers coach Abe Summers said. “Everybody wants to knock us off. They know they have to work hard to get back there. It’s going to be tough, but everybody’s working hard to get there. That’s our goal.”
Nobody would like to beat the Panthers more than their island rivals at Kubasaki. The Dragons are continuing a building project under second-year coach Robert Barrett, with juniors Roman McLeod and Aidan Rodriguez as team captains on a young squad with just one senior.
“It’s hard to say” how they’ll do, Barrett said. In their first match at Kadena, the Dragons lost 2-0. “We’re talented, but young. Another rebuilding year.”
Elijah Whipp is one of three four-year senior starters on Kadena. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Kadena coach Abe Summers makes it a point to tell his players that it's one thing to get to the top and another to stay there. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Roman McLeod is one of two junior captains for Kubasaki. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Chris Eastman most likely has a soft spot in his heart for whomever operates the PCS Plane.
Despite graduating 65 goals and much of its up-front team speed, Kubasaki was gifted five able-bodied replacements, four from the States, who have already proven their worth in the team’s first go-round with Kadena. The Dragons won 8-0 Wednesday.
Sisters Josephine and Julianne Zwierzynski transferred from Coronado, Calif. Freshman Alexa Welsh is newly arrived from Havelock, N.C. Sophomore Chloe Sanders comes in from Virginia. And sophomore defensive midfielder Ainsle Schielke arrives from Matthew C. Perry, where she helped the Samurai to the Far East Division II Tournament title.
“This team is not as senior dependent” as was last year’s D-I title team, Eastman said.
It’s a brand new group up front, kind of hard to compare to last year’s stars Solares Solano and Sakura Lopez. Senior Amaya Schaffeld has been sidelined by a torn right ACL.
“Maybe not as much firepower” as the Dragons had last season, “but we’ll still be competitive. Some new girls, improvements from our JV and our returning players.”
The Dragons have held sway the last few seasons over Kadena, but the Panthers did open strongly, beating Okinawa Christian 12-0 in their opener. And Kadena does have several returning veterans, including senior defensive midfielder Brooke Brewer, the team captain.
“We definitely have a chance,” Brewer said. “We have a good group of players who know each other and the new people fit in well.”
Sophomore Victoria Facchini is one of a handful of Kubasaki returners. (Isaiah Ramirez/Special to Stripes)
Junior Josephine Zwierzynski is hoping to keep Kubasaki a head up on their competition. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
Junior Reina Eastman is the offspring of two former Kadena stars, Chris Eastman and the former Jillian Bearden, now teaching and coaching at Kubasaki. (Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
