[ HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL ]
Punahou players piled on junior pitcher Jared Pate after the junior tossed a 6-0 shutout victory against Mid-Pacific last night.
Punahou claims title
Jared Pate shuts out Mid-Pacific
6-0 for the state championship
There was only one major difference between Jared Pate's performance last night and his accomplishments all year long.
The Punahou junior right-handed pitcher completely shut down the Mid-Pacific offense. This time, however, the three-hitter and 6-0 victory lifted the Buffanblu to the Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championships title in front of 2,819 at Les Murakami Stadium.
HHSAA Baseball
At Les Murakami StadiumTUESDAY
Game 1: Leilehua 13, Honokaa 0
2: Roosevelt 4, Hilo 3
3: Pearl City 6, Kauai 3, 8 innings
4: Punahou vs. Kaiser, 7 p.m.WEDNESDAY
Game 5: Kaiser 7, Honokaa 5
6: Waiakea 5, Pearl City 1
7: Punahou 5, Baldwin 1
8: Aiea 2, Leilehua 1
9: Mid-Pacific 4, Roosevelt 3THURSDAY
10: Hilo 1, Kauai 0
11: Leilehua 11, Baldwin 5
12: Pearl City 8, Roosevelt 1
13: Mid-Pacific 2, Waiakea 0
14: Punahou 4, Aiea 3YESTERDAY
15: Hilo 4, Kaiser 3 (seventh place)
16: Leilehua 5, Pearl City 2 (fifth place)
17: Waiakea 3, Aiea 1 (third place)
18: Punahou 6, Mid-Pacific 0 (championship)
In a rematch of the ILH championship game, Pate struck out six and walked one, and he got major hitting help from the usual sources -- junior Kasey Ko and seniors Michael Lam and Noah Phillips -- against four ineffective Owls pitchers.
"Jared was struggling with a sore arm for a lot of the season, but he really stepped up," Lam said. "We asked him to do it one more time. We asked him for a gem and that's what he gave us, a gem."
After the Buffanblu (20-6) stranded three runners in the first, Lam singled home the first run for a 1-0 lead in the second.
That's all Pate would need, but the deep Punahou batting order gave him much more.
Ko went to work in the third with his penchant for finding the gap. This time, he drilled an RBI double to right-center. Once again, the Buffanblu stranded three runners, but it didn't end up hurting them.
In the fourth, it was Phillips' turn. He drilled a two-run double to right-center and Ko followed up by driving Phillips home with a single to right for a 5-0 lead.
"I'm absolutely so happy for the kids and for all the Punahou alumni," Buffanblu coach Eric Kadooka said. "It was the momentum that carried us. We've been playing so well and it was momentum, that's all it was. Nobody thought we could do this."
It wasn't Mid-Pacific's night. Coach Dunn Muramaru breathed a sigh of relief after starter lefty Chris Freshour pitched out of that first-inning jam and he put in senior Harrison Kuroda, who carried MPI to the ILH title. But Kuroda lasted 1 1/3 innings and got tagged for five hits and two runs.
"I'm fine, the kids are fine," Muramaru said after the loss. "That's (the Buffanblu) just a great team. We tried our best. We just didn't have it."
The Owls (18-6) barely missed tying it at 1-all in the top of the third after Freshour singled, moved to second on Nick Furumoto's sacrifice and stole third with two outs. When Ryan Asato took a cut for strike three, the ball bounded toward the backstop and Freshour sprinted home. The umpiring crew discussed the play and ruled that even though Punahou didn't make a putout, the ball was dead and the inning was over with no run scored because it hit Asato in the foot.
The Owls added their final run in the sixth when Phillips reached on an error and eventually scored on a balk.
"At the beginning, I thought it was going to be a really tough game," Ko said. "But then when we started scoring in the second, third and fourth, we just kept it rolling. When I woke up today, I had a good feeling about this and I envisioned this happening."
All-tournament team
Selected by mediaMost Outstanding Player
Jared Pate, PunahouP: Jared Tate, Punahou, and Harrison Kuroda, Mid-Pacific
C: Avery Kagawa, Waiakea
1B: Kasey Ko, Punahou
2B: Michael Lam, Punahou
SS: Randy Rundgren, Mid-Pacific
3B: Matt Patterson, Waiakea
OF: Ryan Asato, Mid-Pacific; Noah Phillips, Punahou; Nyles Nakama, Kaiser
DH: Spencer Omalza, LeilehuaThe two teams split four games, including two 2-1 games in the regular season before MPI won the ILH crown with a 3-1 victory.
"We split with them and that's not bad," Muramaru said. "They just won the big game."
The difference this time was Pate, the tournament's most outstanding player.
"I always thought it was possible, but we finally accomplished it against a great team," Pate said. "My arm was sore (after a complete-game tournament-opening win over Kaiser), but I was able to get some physical therapy and relieve the pain."
Pitching coach Matt Apana didn't know who the starter would be until late in the afternoon.
"Jared told me he was feeling fine, but I didn't expect him to go seven innings. That kid's pretty tough," Apana said.
The Buffanblu last won the state championship in 1989 under coach Pal Eldredge. They also won state titles in 1961, '64, '66, '68 and '72 and were runner-ups in 1965, '69, '71, '73 and '97.
The Owls -- state champions in 1990 through 1992 and in 2002 -- added another second-place finish to their resume. They were also runner-ups in 1995, '98, '99 and 2001.
Waiakea 3, Aiea 1
There is a time limit in baseball, just ask No. 1 seed Aiea High.Yesterday's third-place game was called due to the two-hour time-limit, giving Waiakea a 3-1 victory. But it came at a bad time for Na Alii, who had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the seventh.
The Big Island champion Warriors (16-1) took third place with the victory. Oahu Interscholastic Association champion Aiea (13-3) fell for the second straight day after 13 straight victories.
Aiea (13-3) 001 000 0 -- 1 4 1 Waiakea (16-1) 201 000 x -- 3 8 0 Lance Powell, Hoku Piho (3), Cody Aquino (5) and Brian Morihara; Justin Kekaualua, Patterson (5) and Avery Kagawa, Jensen Sato (5). W--Kekaualua. L--Powell. S--Patterson.
Leading hitters--Aiea: Moleta RBI, Jordan Shibata 2 stolen bases. Waiak: Kagawa 2b; Matt Patterson RBI; Justin Pascual 2-2, 2b, 2 RBIs.Leilehua 5, Pearl City 2
The Mules made the most of three hits to take fifth place.Two of them were doubles in the third inning. Andrew Ontai's drive brought in two runs, and Spencer Omalza's plated a third.
Omalza also belted a two-run double in the fifth.
Leilehua (13-3) 003 020 0 -- 5 3 5 Pearl City (12-6) 000 002 0 -- 2 6 3 Spencer Omalza and Jesse Matsuura; Anthony Ganigan, Shannon Liu (5), Jason Tamanaha (7) and Corey Giammalvo, Kyle Poentis (4). W--Omalza. L--Ganigan.
Leading hitters--Lei: Andrew Ontai, 2b, 2 RBIs; S. Omalza 2-4, 2 2b, 3 RBIs. PC: Kyle Poentis 2-2, Joshua Pong 1-1, 2 RBIs.Hilo 4, Kaiser 3
Jesse Yoshida's two-run double keyed the Vikings' three-run rally in the third inning as Hilo captured the consolation championship.
Kaiser (11-5) 002 000 1 -- 3 7 2 Hilo (14-3) 013 000 x -- 4 5 1 Shannon Wise, Andrew Uehara (3), Reyn Kimura (5), Michael Heu (6) and Jarryd Maeda; Milton Kenui, Jonathan Arai (5) and Keola Holt-Mizuguchi, Matthew Haasenritter (6). W--Kenui. L--Wise.
Leading hitters--Kais: Neale Asato 3-4; Colby Ho, 2b, RBI; Nyles Nakama 2-2, 2b, 2 RBIs. Hilo: Jeremy Kaaukai, 2b, RBI; Jesse Yoshida, 2b, 2 RBIs; M. Kenui 2-2, 2b.
Punahou 6, Mid-Pacific 0
Mid-Pacific AB R H BI Punahou AB R H BI Goya cf 3 0 0 0 Kiriu 3b 2 0 0 0 Asato rf 3 0 0 0 Lam 2b 3 1 2 1 Kuroda dh 3 0 1 0 Veneri dh 4 0 2 0 Rundgren ss 3 0 1 0 Hiramoto pr 0 1 0 0 Masuda c 3 0 0 0 Yamagishi pr 0 0 0 0 Takabuki 2b 3 0 0 0 Phillips lf 2 1 2 2 Endo 3b 2 0 0 0 Cho pr/lf 0 1 0 0 Freshour p 1 0 1 0 Kubota lf 0 1 0 0 Furumoto lf 0 0 0 0 Ko 1b 3 0 2 2 Kramer p 1 0 0 0 Murashige pr 0 0 0 0 Tani 1b 0 0 0 0 Downing rf 3 0 0 0 Nakata ss 4 0 2 0 Kurisu c 3 0 0 0 Kim ph 0 0 0 0 Ariki cf 3 1 1 0 Pate p 0 0 0 0 Totals 22 0 3 0 Totals 27 6 11 5 MPI (18-6) 000 000 0 -- 0 3 3 Punahou (20-6) 011 301 x -- 6 11 0 E--Asato, Takabuki, Freshour. DP--MPI 1, Punahou 1. LOB--MPI 3, Punahou 11. 2B--Phillips, Ko. SB--Freshour, Kubota. SH--Furumoto, Lam, Kubota, Downing.
Mid-Pacific IP H R ER BB SO Freshour (L) 1.0 0 0 0 2 0 Kuroda 1.1 5 2 2 1 1 Young 0.2 2 2 2 1 0 Kramer 3.0 4 2 1 0 4 Punahou IP H R ER BB SO Pate (W) 7.0 3 0 0 1 6 WP--Young. BK--Freshour, Kramer. HBP--by Freshour (Phillips). Umpires--Fred Davidson (plate), Kimo Kanaeholo (first), Kent Tustsumi (second), Cary Izuka (third).
T--1:57. A--2,819.
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Buffanblu big when
it counts
Until last night, there was only one team Punahou had trouble scoring runs against this year.
That number is now zero.
The Buffanblu tattooed Mid-Pacific for 11 hits in its 6-0 victory in the state high school baseball championship game. In the teams' previous three meetings this year, Punahou scored a total of four runs in a win and two losses.
Players and coaches said they made physical and spiritual adjustments.
Assistant coach Franz Yuen hit two home runs and drove in four runs when Punahou last won the state title, beating Saint Louis 9-8 in 1989. But he didn't instruct the Buffanblu to try to emulate him -- if the longball was to happen, it could happen without them swinging for the fences.
"They did a great job of hitting within themselves, just trying for hits and not trying to hit five-run homers," Yuen said.
Mike Lam, Mark Veneri, Noah Phillips, Kasey Ko and Landon Nakata all paired hits for Punahou. The only extra-base knocks were run-scoring doubles by Phillips and Ko.
"We just tried to put the sweet part of the bat on the ball," said Ko, who batted .538 in four games and made the all-tournament team. "And we had real good communication in the dugout about what they were throwing."
Lam also made the all-tourney team after going 7-for-15 and making some great defensive plays.
"We knew this was our last game," the senior second baseman said. "We put in a lot of work all season, and it showed."
Ko said Yuen fired up the team after its 3-1 loss to MPI for the league championship two weeks ago.
"He said it takes heart to win," Ko said. "After we lost the ILH, he told us that was the difference between Mid-Pac and us. After that, we played with a lot more heart."
Yuen agreed.
"We had different guys step up at different times during the season," he said. "Lam and Veneri were hot at the beginning, then Ko got hot toward the end. Ko and Lam have been on fire."
Punahou pitcher Jared Pate was voted the most outstanding player, and outfielder Phillips also made the all-tournament team. Pate allowed no earned runs in 14 innings, striking out 10 and walking one in two wins. Phillips got on base seven times in 11 plate appearances.
Mid-Pacific landed pitcher Harrison Kuroda, shortstop Randy Rundgren and outfielder Noah Phillips.
