Maui withdraws
from state tourney

An unusually wacky season in the Maui Interscholastic League took another odd turn yesterday when Maui High School withdrew from the state baseball tournament.

Maui was slated to play Moanalua in tomorrow's opening round, but the Sabers submitted a report to their league that revealed an ineligible player participated in seven of the team's 13 MIL games. The player had falsified a grade check.

"The only way it was found was when the teachers received the players' names on the travel lists. One teacher noticed the kid's name and brought it up to the athletic director," Maui coach Lee Yonamine said. "That's when the investigation started."

The high school baseball careers of eight Saber seniors came to an abrupt halt.

"The seniors, none of them were involved and it was their last chance," Yonamine said.

The longtime Maui coach lamented both the violation and the timing.

"This one, we're hurting everybody -- the MIL, the state tournament," he said. "We feel bad. We've got to get a better system down. Too much of it is in the kids' hands. It just hurts too many people."

The league has two state berths but chose not to fill the vacancy. Maui's withdrawal means Moanalua advances into the quarterfinal round to play Waiakea.

Baldwin and Maui completed regular-season play with a 13-3 record, but the Sabers finished second to the Bears after losing a tiebreaker game last Wednesday.

Kamehameha-Maui, a team of underclassmen, finished a close third in the MIL standings with a 12-4 mark. Coach Barry Takahashi was working on his end-of-season evaluations yesterday afternoon when he was informed about the Maui withdrawal.

"Part of me says I wish we could go, but this late, it doesn't give us enough time to be there for an 11:30 a.m. game Wednesday, mentally and physically," Takahashi said. "If they told us to go, we'd make the best of it."

The Hawaii High School Athletic Association faxed a memo disclosing Maui's pullout.

"Maui High School is to be commended for making the tough, but correct, decision," HHSAA executive director Keith Amemiya said. "This is an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, but hopefully we can learn from this and move on."

MIL baseball coordinator Kurtis Saiki believes logistics and timing played a part in the decision to leave the second league berth vacant.

"We've had this situation before in baseball, and, in fact, it involved Maui High School. In that case, there was enough time, so the next team, Lahainaluna, went," said Saiki, who is athletic director at King Kekaulike High School.

"If you really want it, I guess you could, I'm not sure," Saiki said last night. "Maui was supposed to leave tomorrow already. For the next team, I don't know if it's logistically enough time to raise money for the trip, make reservations and all that."

Saiki was informed of the withdrawal yesterday. MIL executive secretary Stephen Kim was not available for comment last night.

Two weeks ago, Baldwin imposed its own disciplinary measure and considered ending its season after several players were allegedly involved in an altercation. The team forfeited two games and returned to the field.

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