[ HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS ]
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Owls win fourth Refusing to carry the bridesmaid label into yet another summer, Mid-Pacific fought back from an early deficit to score a 6-3 victory over Kamehameha last night in the title game of the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship.
baseball title
Mid-Pacific's 5-run rally in the
third does in the WarriorsBasco a goat no longer
By Jason Kaneshiro
jkaneshiro@starbulletin.comA crowd of 2,795 at Les Murakami Stadium watched Mid-Pacific win its fourth state championship and its first since 1992. The Owls had finished second in four of the previous seven state tournaments, including last year's loss to Kailua in the final.
"This summer is going to be 10 times better than last summer," MPI catcher Matt Inouye said. "We came out to play tonight. We showed the state, although we were underdogs we could play."
The Owls had been haunted for the past 12 months by Kailua's late rally to defeat MPI in last year's championship game. MPI had also lost its previous two outings to Kamehameha this season, including last week's 6-4 loss in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title game.
"We've had our share of feelings like that," said a visibly drained MPI coach Dunn Muramaru. "We lost four (state championship games) in a row. ... After a while you don't know when it's ever going to end.
"The kids came back from so many injuries its unbelievable."
Patrick McGuigan pitched 213 innings of scoreless relief of starter Ryan Basco to earn his third win of the tournament. McGuigan, a senior right-hander, gave up just six hits and one walk in 1213 shutout innings during the week to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
"Patty's a great pitcher," Inouye said. "I don't know how he does it, but he's a helluva pitcher."
Shannon Kahale took the loss for Kamehameha as the Warriors were denied their first title since 1988.
Keven Whalen led Mid-Pacific offensively, going 2-for-3 with a triple and 3 RBIs.
"Usually when we get together it's a fight to the end," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said. "It was a good ballgame, it's just unfortunate we didn't come out on top."
Kamehameha jumped out to an early lead off Basco thanks to an MPI error. With one out in the top of the first, Keoni Ruth and Kahale singled. MPI second baseman Isaac Omura couldn't handle J.P. Kennedy's bouncer up the middle and the ball dribbled into center field, allowing Kamehameha to take a 2-0 lead.
"I just told (Basco) to keep us close," Inouye said. "We'll get you the run support."
The Owls battled back with a run in the second inning and took command with five in the third.
MPI scored all of its runs in the third inning with two out. Basco's single to left scored Ryan Leong and Inouye to give the Owls a 3-2 lead. After Jonathan Hee's RBI single, Whalen hammered a triple to center field to score two more and extend the MPI lead to 6-2.
"Shannon pitched a good ballgame and in that inning he wasn't hitting spots like he was earlier and got a few pitches up and they have quality hitters," Ramie said.
Kamehameha responded with a two-out rally of its own in the fourth. Aaron Fuller tripled to the right-center gap and Baba Merino followed with a single to bring the Warriors within three.
Kahale settled down after MPI's big inning to set down the next six batters he faced. But Basco and McGuigan matched his performance and limited the Warriors to one run through the middle innings.
A key for the Owls pitchers was keeping the Warrior leadoff hitters off the basepaths, as Basco and McGuigan retired the first batter of each inning.
"We couldn't get the leadoff guys on," Ramie said. "We got a lot of hits with two out and it's always a lot easier if you can get the first guy on."
Third Place
Roosevelt 12, Kailua 0Chris Mols closed his high school career by striking out seven in a five-inning no-hitter in the Rough Riders' rout of the Surfriders.
The senior left-hander walked three and faced just two batters over the minimum to earn his second complete-game win of the tournament.
The game was called after the fifth inning due to the 10-run rule, a day after the Rough Riders lost to Kamehameha 5-4 in a semifinal game.
"Last night was a heartbreaker for us, so I wanted to have a good game and this was a great way to go out," Mols said.
"I starting thinking about it in the third inning," Mols said. "I got my groove on and it looked like we might end it in five."
Mols closed the game by striking out four of the last five batters he faced.
Roosevelt (13-4) 350 22 -- 12 13 0
Kailua (12-5) 000 00 -- 0 0 1
Chris Mols and Kevin Fujii, Brandon Loo (5); Jonathan Tabar, Taleki Mailau (1), Kamaile Santos (2), Chris Mahelona (3), Michael Kealoha (5) and Chad Kajiyama. W -- Mols. L -- Tabar.
Leading hitters -- Roosevelt: Matthew Terukina 2-4, 2b, RBI; Cameron Kimura 2-2, 2 RBIs; Blake Isobe 2-4, RBI; Ivan Fujii 3-3, 2b, 4 RBIs; Marvin Rombaua 2b, RBI.
Waianae 9, Baldwin 1
Waianae (13-3) 230 211 -- 9 7 1
Baldwin (15-8) 000 100 -- 1 4 3
Dane Awana, Cid Moses (3) and Michael Ferriera. Shaun Saiki, Sean Ogata (4), Jared Nakamoto (6). W -- Moses. L -- Saiki.
Leading hitters -- Waianae: Moses 3-4, RBI. Baldwin: Chad Nikaido 2-3, RBI.
Aiea 9, Maui 8
Maui (17-6) 320 21 -- 8 9 2
Aiea (11-4) 012 24 -- 9 11 2
Manu Kaina, Jarrett Agcaoili (3), Jon Cayan (4), Agcaoili (4), Joseph Kala (5). Nelson Hao, Dustin Grace (4). W -- Grace. L -- Kala.
Leading hitters -- Maui: Chad Fernandez 2-2, 3b; Agcaoili 2-2, 2b, 2 RBIs; Vance Otake 1-2, 2 RBIs. Aiea: Jonathan Sakurai 1-2, 2 RBIs; Ranon Aquino 1-1, 2 RBIs; James Miyashiro 2-3, 2b, 3 RBIs; Ross Akimoto 1-2, 2b.
Mid-Pacific 6, Kamehameha 3
Kamehameha AB R H BI MPI AB R H BI Perkins cf 4 0 0 0 Hanzawa ss 2 0 0 0 Ruth ss 4 1 2 0 Inouye c 3 1 0 0 Kahale p 3 1 1 0 Omura 2b 1 1 0 0 Dupont p 0 0 0 0 Basco p/1b 3 2 2 2 Vierra pr 0 0 0 0 Hee dh 3 1 1 1 Santos lf 4 0 1 0 Kashiwaeda pr 0 0 0 0 Kennedy 1b 2 0 0 0 Whalen rf 3 0 2 3 Ogawa pr 0 0 0 0 Pate 3b 2 0 0 0 Freitas rf 3 0 1 0 Inamasu ph 1 0 0 0 McAngus 3b 3 0 0 0 Kaneshiro lf 3 0 1 0 Fuller 2b 3 1 1 0 Leong cf 1 1 0 0 Merino c 3 0 1 1 Freshour 1b 0 0 0 0 McGuigan p 0 0 0 0 Totals 29 3 7 1 Totals 22 6 6 6
Kamehameha(17-5) 200 100 0 -- 3 7 1 Mid-Pacific (19-5) 015 000 x -- 6 6 2 E -- Omura 1, Pate 1, McAngus 1; LOB -- Kamehameha 0, Mid-Pacific 0; DP -- Kamehameha 1; 2b -- Santos 1; 3b -- Basco 1, Whalen 1, Fuller 1; Sac -- Hanzawa 1; SB -- Santos 1, Kashiwaeda 1.
Kamehameha IP H R ER BB SO Kahale (L 0-1) 5 6 6 6 1 1 Dupont 1 0 0 0 0 1
Mid-Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Basco 4.2 6 3 1 0 3 McGuigan (W 3-0) 2.1 1 0 0 1 0 PB -- Inouye 1; HBP -- Omura by Kahale, Kennedy by Basco.
T -- 1:54. A -- 2,795.
As selected by the media All-tournament team
C -- Matt Inouye, MPI
INF -- Isaac Omura, MPI
INF -- Troy Hanzawa, MPI
INF -- Aaron Fuller, Kamehameha
INF -- Keoni Ruth, Kamehameha
OF -- Corey Higa, Roosevelt
OF -- Sal Paragas, Waianae
OF -- Keven Whalen, MPI
DH -- Jon Hee, MPI
U -- Brandon Loo, Roosevelt
P -- Ikena Dupont, Kamehameha
P -- Chris Mols, Roosevelt
Most Outstanding Player -- Patrick McGuigan, MPI
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