Warriors make first appearance

Nine teams have qualified for the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA State Baseball Championships, but the drama is still unfolding for the final three spots.

State tourney berths are still at stake in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

Kamehameha, which struggled for much of the ILH season, has enjoyed a hot streak in the league's postseason tourney. It's been a season of peaks and valleys for the young Warriors, who have only one senior.

They went 14-1-1 in nonconference play, including a stint on the Valley Isle that included wins over Kamehameha-Maui, Kamehameha-Hawaii and Maui. The Warriors also swept Baldwin, currently ranked third in the Star-Bulletin Top 10, in a pair of games.

Then came the ILH schedule and a string of tough losses.

"We always struggle in the first week with distractions, and the rainouts didn't help," coach Vern Ramie said. "We got too comfortable once the (regular) season started."

The Warriors are in the Top 10, at No. 8, for the first time this season. They showed potential not just in preseason, but midway through ILH play with consecutive wins over Punahou and Iolani.

"This has been a successful season for us no matter what happens now," Ramie said. "But the boys really want to go back to Maui."

The state tourney will be played at Iron Maehara Stadium.

Who's on first?

It was Leilehua assistant coach Brendan Sagara who got the heave-ho in Saturday's playoff loss to Castle.

Head coach Mike Kim was incorrectly listed as the ousted Mule in Sunday's game story. The toss-out came toward the tail end of Castle's nine-run outburst in the first two innings.

Leilehua, ranked in the Top 10 most of the season, simply didn't have as much pitching, at least not as much as Castle. An offseason shoulder injury to Andrew Ontai limited the talented senior to infield play, costing Leilehua a valuable arm.

John Olley pitched earlier in the week for the Mules and didn't seem to be at full strength against Castle.

"That's the thing, but we figured we relied on him a lot this year, so we'd put him on the mound. He's our go-to guy," Kim said. "It would've been nice to have one more pitcher, but the causalities, like Ontai with his shoulder, that hurt us a lot in the long run."

It was the second time in two seasons that Leilehua lost when a state berth was on the line. The Mules had just 12 players during the regular season and 14 in the playoffs, along with some JV call-ups. They lose 10 to graduation this year.