The Upcountry Dirtbags and La Perouse Pirates won their 1st Round Playoff matchups and will advance to the best-of-three semi-final round beginning next weekend.
The Dirtbags knocked off the West Maui Brewers 5-2 behind the dominant pitching of flamethrowing right-hander Peter Reyes. Reyes struck out 9 over 7 scoreless innings, not surrending a hit until there were two outs in the 7th. The Brewers threatened late, bringing the tying run to the plate in the ninth, but the defending champs held on to advance to the 2nd round of the playoffs for the 4th season in a row. To return to the Championship Series, the Dirtbags will need to defeat the top-seeded Kihei Centipedes.
The Pirates walked-off in the 9th inning to take a back-and-forth battle with the Kaanapali Coast Monarchs. Kaleb Palmer hit his third career home run and earned the win in relief. The Pirates return to the semi-final round for the first time since the Summer 2023 season as they look to advance to the Championship Series for the first time since they brought home the title run during the Spring 2021 season. To do so, they will need to beat John Lamb and the Lahaina Warriors.
As always, complete scores, stats, and photos from all the MABL playoff matchups will be available online following the games.