Monday, May 25, 1998

Iolani state title
streak intact

Raiders repeat in an
improbable year

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

Finally, Iolani can talk about next season. That's when the Raiders were expected to be back, contending for the state high school baseball title.

It wasn't supposed to happen in 1998, not after nationally ranked Iolani was hit hard by graduation. But the Raiders wouldn't listen to the doubters who said they were a year away from another championship. They made the commitment to three-peat, on the field during summer league play and in the weight room starting last October.

"I think this one is definitely sweeter," said senior first baseman Jeff Iwashita after Iolani become only the second team to win three consecutive titles with a 4-1 victory over top-seeded Mid-Pacific Saturday night at Aloha Stadium. "The road was a lot harder this year and it ended up a lot better."

After making a throwing error that gave the Owls a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Iwashita was determined to atone for his mistake. The peace offering to his teammates came in the form of a two-run single that gave Iolani a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning. Iwashita drilled Mid-Pac reliever Bryan Lee's 1-1 fastball to right, providing what turned out to be the winning runs.

For the fourth game in a row, the Raiders came up big with two outs. Wednesday, they scored all three of their runs with two away to edge Aiea. Thursday, they did it with four runs in the top of the eighth against No. 2 Maui. On Friday against No. 3 Waianae, their last five runs came with two outs in an inning.

"It funny that the only time we seemed to get focused was when we got to the last out," Iolani coach Dean Yonamine said. "Maybe there's a sense of urgency at that point to do something.

"It was a different kind of pressure this year . . . We kept telling the kids we (the coaches) weren't looking to next year. We thought we could do it this year. There was no sense that it was a rebuilding year."

The Owls were back in the title game for the first time since losing to Baldwin in 1995 and were looking for their first championship since winning three straight from 1990-92.

"You can't ask for a better shot at winning it than we had this year," said Mid-Pac coach Dunn Muramaru, whose team finished 16-6. "But Iolani deserved to be champions."

Muramaru was second-guessing himself on two critical decisions: pulling starter Brandon Fujimoto after the junior walked Marvin Wong to open the fifth and waving Sing Chow to third after the junior opened the sixth with a blast over the head of Iolani center fielder Douglas Jackson.

After Fujimoto departed, Iolani loaded the bases, scored its first run on a walk, picked up two more runs on Iwashita's single and scored on a wild pitch.

Sing Chow was nailed at third after trying to stretch his double into a triple via a perfect relay from Jackson to shortstop Tyler Kimura to Kainoa Obrey at third.

"It probably was a mistake (to pull Fujimoto) but we had decided, since he threw 80 (pitches against Kauai Thursday) that we'd let him throw about 50 today," Muramaru said. "That probably cost us the game. And it was my fault, too, on Sing Chow. I should have held him up (at second) but I didn't think it would be a close play."

"I'm happy for our kids," said Yonamine, the catcher on Iolani's back-to-back title teams in 1982 and '83. "We told them what it was going to take to win it again and they were all willing to work hard for it."

All-Tournament Team Most Valuable Player: Erik Yamamoto, Iolani. P: Neto Quiroz, Kauai; C: Rusty Kawachi, Hilo; INF: Jeff Iwashita, Iolani; Dan Gushiken, Waiakea; Rex Rundgren, MPI; Kainoa Obrey, Iolani; OF: Fausto Allosada, Baldwin; Shannon Telles, Waianae; Brad Apo, Maui; DH: Kenji Takanishi, MPI; U--Shane Komine, Kalani.