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Wednesday, May 10, 2000
Warriors’
Kaanoi was armed
and ready
The senior gave up three hits
By Dave Reardon
and his teammates smacked eight
doubles as Kamehameha beat
Iolani, 7-1, for ILH title
Star-BulletinKamehameha provided double-trouble for Iolani last night in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball championship game: ace pitcher Kahi Kaanoi and a bundle of two-base hits.
Kaanoi pitched a three-hitter, and the Warriors belted eight doubles all around spacious Aloha Stadium on the way to a 7-1 victory.
A gathering of about 400 watched Kaanoi hold the Raiders hitless until Tyler Kimura's clean single in the sixth inning. It also saw Kamehameha hit four consecutive doubles in a four-run fifth inning.
"Kahi did the job tonight. He kept us in the ballgame," said a happy but low-key Warriors' coach Vern Ramie. "We scored a few runs and played pretty good defense."
Kamehameha (16-4) and ILH tournament champion Iolani (14-5) will represent the Oahu private school league in next week's state tournament on Maui.
"We didn't want to go into the state tournament with a losing streak," Ramie said. "This game was important for us to gain some momentum."Kamehameha, ranked No. 1 in the state most of the season, will likely be seeded first or second. That means the Warriors get a first-round bye in the 12-team tournament.
Iolani, which would have received the ILH's bye with a win last night, must win four games in four days to capture the state title.
But Raiders coach Dean Yonamine pointed out that wasn't a problem for Iolani in two of its three consecutive state championships in the 1990s.
"In '96 and '98 we had to win four to win it. So I think we're accustomed to knowing how to prepare to play four in a row. We've got enough arms," he said.
One arm was enough for the Warriors last night.
With an overwhelming slider, Kaanoi struck out nine, including the last three batters of the game after yielding a homer to Blaine Umeda. Kaanoi also walked four and hit two, but Iolani didn't mount an effective rally until it was too late.
"We went in with the idea that we were going to force him to throw his breaking pitch for strikes and he did that," Yonamine said. "He really threw a lot of breaking balls for strikes. He pitched a great game. That's why he's one of the 100 best players in the nation."
Errorless defense helped the regular-season champion Warriors, who were beaten, 13-3, by the Raiders for the ILH tournament championship Saturday. It was the second time in four days Iolani beat Kamehameha.
"I just tried to control and let them hit the ball (last night)," Kaanoi said. "We were kind of down during the tournament. We weren't playing as well as we were during the season."
Kamehameha scored in the first when Joshua Martin stole home as Jesse Colondrea distracted the Iolani infield long enough after being picked off first.
The rest of the Warriors' runs came via strength rather than stealth.
Martin, Tyler Perkins, Bronson Sardinha and Kai Yamashita started the fifth with four doubles.
"It was nice to see them relax and come out and swing the bats the way they can," Ramie said.
WARRIORS 7, RAIDERS 1
Kamehameha 110 140 0--7 10 0 Iolani 000 000 1--1 3 1 Kahi Kaanoi and Kai Yamashita. Ethan Wayne, Rich Olsen (2), Blaine Umeda (5) and Travis Mitsuda. W--Kaanoi. L--Wayne.
Leading hitters--Kamehameha: Joshua Martin, 2 2b, 2 runs; Tyler Perkins, 2b, RBI; Bronson Sardinha, 2b, RBI; Kai Yamashita, 2-4, 2b, RBI; Ikaika DuPont, 2b; Kelii Cabral, 2 2b; Hubert Pruett, 3b. Iolani: Blaine Umeda, HR.
