Friday, July 9, 1999
Movers happy to be home
By Al Chase
Star-BulletinWhen the jet landed at Honolulu Airport, there was clapping and cheering.
"That was the whole team," said Hawaii Island Movers head coach Tom Gushiken.
The Island Movers players were glad to be back on familiar turf after a three-week trip to Japan that produced just two victories in 13 games. Five other games were rained out.
"I think this trip was longer than normal and as far as the competition, whenever we go to Japan, it's always good. It's not that it's better, but we didn't play very well," said Gushiken.
The 1999 Movers are younger and less experienced than past summers.
"The good thing is every game they went out there with the thought that they could play with those guys. Then we would have one or two bad innings and suddenly we would be out of it," Gushiken said. "I think it was good for them to get the exposure to the competition we faced."
The Movers open their home schedule tomorrow with a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Rainbow Stadium against the Kauai All-Stars. The teams play a single game Sunday starting a 3 p.m.
Scooter Martines (Hawaii), Buster Small (Princeton), Woody Cliffords (Pepperdine) and Matt Ramie (Laney College) were the top hitters on the road trip.
Three local players are joining the Movers for the rest of the summer. They are center fielder Mark Okano (New Mexico), third baseman Danny Kimura, who is transferring to Hawaii from Nebraska, and infielder Gregg Omori.
