Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Saturday, July 1, 2000

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
West Oahu players direct words and glares toward
the Dallas Titans side while walking off the field
after winning last night's game.

Isle team will be
Best of West

West Oahu wins tense semifinal
game to reach baseball classic
final against Central Oahu

By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin

West Oahu and Dallas players ran their mouths a lot, and the local boys did a lot of sprinting with their legs, too, setting up the first all-Hawaii final in the history of the Best of the West Baseball Classic.

West Oahu, with aggressive base-running including seven stolen bases, edged the visitors from Texas, 8-7, in one semifinal last night at Aloha Stadium.

In the other, Central Oahu beat Ohio, 15-11, as Corey Yonemoto scored four runs and Wade Murata went 3-for-4.

West Oahu came back from a 6-2 third- inning deficit to edge Dallas by the same score it did in a pool-play game Tuesday, when West Oahu scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

This time, fifth-inning triples by Isaac Omura and Joshua Martin, sandwiched by a single by Ikaika DuPont, gave West Oahu the winning rally.

By George F. Lee, Star-Bulletin
Dallas Titan batter Anthony Bennett shows
his frustration after a called third strike.

Isaac Harbottle and Hubert Pruett each pitched an inning of perfect relief of winner Ricky Bauer.

Dallas' frustration boiled over last night on a third-inning stolen base by Daniel Sekigawa that could have been ruled interference by West Oahu batter Nalei So'oto.

Dallas catcher Tommy Lazano and coach Matt Buettner argued strongly for several minutes, but umpire Mike Evans stood by his call.

West Oahu rallied for three runs in the inning on four singles. So'oto also stole a base and scored on a wild pitch in the inning.

So'oto was hit by pitches twice afterward, and both teams postured and taunted each other throughout the game.

"We showed who the stronger mental team is. We got in their heads," West Oahu coach Devin Fukunaga said. "They're an excellent ballclub, talent-wise. But they lost their focus."

Buettner said his team's verbal confrontations with West Oahu didn't ruin his group's experience in Hawaii, but he wasn't exactly throwing it compliments, either.

"The Leeward team was one of the best class acts I've ever seen. But the West Oahu coaches have no control over their team," Buettner said. "The talking, the attitude."

Dallas, which finished the tournament 2-3-1, appeared to have last night's game under control after Adam Yates' three-run double in the third.

Clint Goocher's 365-foot inside-the-park homer in the fourth made it 7-5, Dallas.

Martin, Sekigawa, Omura and DuPont all paired hits for West Oahu, which went into today's final at 5-1.

Central Oahu entered today's championship game at 5-2.