DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Punahou starting pitcher Jared Pate, left, and first baseman Kasey Ko celebrated after the Buffanblu beat Kailua last night.

Buffanblu repeat

Punahou defeats Kailua 3-1
for its second straight state
championship

For the eighth time in school history, and second in as many years, Punahou is the state baseball champion.

Reigning Star-Bulletin player of the year Jared Pate took a perfect game into the fifth inning before finishing with a two-hitter as the top-seeded Buffanblu defeated Kailua 3-1 yesterday in the championship game of the 2005 Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball State Championship.

A crowd of 2,743 at Les Murakami Stadium saw the Buffanblu (34-3-1) win their eighth baseball championship, tying them with Iolani for the most titles by one school. It's the fourth state title the school has won in the past two weeks, along with girls water polo, girls track and girls basketball.

"We've had these guys since they were in their seventh-grade year and they've done everything we asked," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said. "They're a great bunch of guys and I'm so happy for them."

With Kailua ace Kevin Matsumoto available for just a limited number of innings after pitching the previous two days, the Surfriders (24-11) turned to Michael D'Alessio to start the game and keep it close. The junior did exactly that, scattering seven hits over 3 1/3 innings pitched.

But after giving up back-to-back singles, he was replaced by Matsumoto with one out in the fourth and runners on second and third. Matsumoto struck out Paul Sneider for the second out, but balked in the first run of the game. On the next pitch, he got Landon Nakata to ground out to end the inning.

"The ball just slipped out of my glove," Matsumoto said of the balk. "I wasn't tired ... mistakes happen."

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Punahou head coach Eric Kadooka was doused with water by his players as the Buffanblu celebrated their state title.

"I just tried to hit the ball hard on the ground," Ko said. "When we scored the run I was pumped."

"It was one of those things where we needed a little luck," Kadooka added. "Kasey hit it in the perfect spot and Danny made the perfect slide."

That would be more than enough run support for Pate, who lost his perfect game after yielding a double to Matthew Kinoshita. He finished with five strikeouts and didn't give up an earned run in 9 2/3 innings over three days, earning him the tournament's most outstanding player award.

"The shutout and stuff, I try not to think about those things," Pate said. " Everything was working tonight."

Punahou made it 3-0 in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Nakata that scored Reyn Kubota, who had bunted for a hit with two outs and advanced to third after an errant pickoff throw by the pitcher went into right field.

"We make mistakes, but we play hard and we don't get down on each other," Surfriders coach Corey Ishigo said.

Down to their final three outs, Kailua looked for some of that "Kailua baseball magic" in the seventh inning. Tyler Harrison reached base on an error leading off. Kekoa Sua then hit a groundball to third, but the throw to first was offline, allowing Harrison to advance to third.

Pate buckled down and got Ryan Rodrigues to ground into a run-scoring double play, which cost Pate a second consecutive shutout in the state championship game. Pate struck out Kinoshita to end the game.

"(Pate) threw a great game and they're a great team," Ishigo said. "He has command of all his pitches."

The Buffanblu did not give up an earned run in the tournament. The back-to-back titles by Punahou were the first time a team won two straight since Molokai did it in 1999 and 2000.

All-tournament team

Selected by media
Most Outstanding Player: Jared Pate, Punahou, pitcher
Pitcher: Kevin Matsumoto, Kailua
C: Kamaka Crabbe, Mililani
IF: Kelsey Ko, Punahou
IF: Bryson Mauricio, Kamahameha
IF: Peter Arakawa, Moanalua
IF: Tony Aquino, Mililani
OF: Kyle Fujimoto, Punahou
OF: Keali'i Klobuchar, Kailua
OF: Adam Arakawa, Moanalua
DH/UT: Bucky Aona, Punahou

Punahou 3, Kailua 1

Punahou	AB	R	H	BI	Kailua	AB	R	H	BI
L. Nakata ss	4	0	2	1	D'Allessio p/c	3	0	0	0
Fujimoto lf	3	0	3	0	Harrison ss	3	1	0	0
Aona dh	4	0	0	0	Sua 2b	3	0	1	0
Ko 1b	4	0	3	1	Rodrigues 1b	3	0	0	0
Solomana pr	0	0	0	0	Kinoshita lf	3	0	1	0
Dannaway 3b	4	0	0	0	P. Nakata cf	2	0	0	0
Murashige 2b	3	0	0	0	Matsumoto dh/p	2	0	0	0
Downing rf	3	1	1	0	Kunioka 3b	2	0	0	0
Chock c	3	0	1	0	Klobucar rf	2	0	0	0
Cho pr/lf	1	1	0	0	Yokoi c/dh	0	0	0	0
Kubota cf	2	1	2	0
Sneider ph	1	0	0	0
Totals	32	3	12	2	Totals	23	1	2	0
Punahou			000	111	0	--	3	12	2
Kailua			000	000	1	--	1	2	2

E--Dannaway, Murashige, Harrison, Matsumoto. DP--Punahou 1. LOB--Punahou 8, Kailua 1. 2B--Ko, Kinoshita. SB--Cho. CS--L. Nakata, Kubota.

Punahou	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Pate	7	2	1	0	0	5
Kailua	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
D'Allessio	3 1/3	7	1	1	0	1
Matsumoto	3 2/3	5	2	1	0	6

W--Pate. L--D'Allessio. BK--Matsumoto.
Umpires--Matt Fuller (home), Sosimos Tabieros (first), Nelson Valdez (second), Fred Davidson (third).
T--1:58.