Monday, April 9, 2001
Oahu snags At this stage of his baseball career, Corey Ishigo considers himself more a coach than player. In yesterday's championship game of the 2001 Americans of Japanese Ancestry State Senior Baseball Tournament, however, Ishigo showed he still has plenty of game left in him.
AJA title
AJA star and Kailua
By Brandon Lee
head baseball coach Corey
Ishigo plays a key role in the
9-6 win over the Big Island
Special to the Star-BulletinThe former University of Hawaii standout and current Kailua High School baseball coach earned tournament most valuable player honors after helping his Oahu team to a 9-6 victory over the Big Island for the state AJA title at Aloha Stadium. Earlier in the day, Maui downed Kauai, 6-0, in the third-place game.
Ishigo was happy to be on the field playing the game he loves. But because of the ongoing state public school teachers' strike that has put his duties as Surfriders coach on hold since Thursday, Ishigo admitted that his mind was often on the players he's supposed to lead from the Kailua dugout rather than with the players on his AJA team.
"I definitely still love to play the game, but I think I put more of my efforts into my kids (at Kailua) now," Ishigo said. "With the strike happening, I was kind of frustrated this weekend. So, I just wanted to go out there and play as hard as I can and try to prove something."
And yesterday, Ishigo indeed proved that he could indirectly provide leadership through example for his high school players that he hasn't had contact with in five days, while also helping his AJA team to victory. He led Oahu with three hits and three RBIs while also playing solid defense at second base.
Still, Ishigo was surprised upon receiving the MVP award, saying that he thought many others were more deserving and that the team's success over the weekend was a collective effort.
"Good pitching and timely hitting," said Ishigo, of the keys to Oahu's success.
Both were readily on display in the championship game.
Starting pitcher Richard Desa surrendered five runs on nine hits with five walks in his five innings of work, but battled to keep his team in the game. He left with a 6-5 lead and managed to earn the win. Reliever Brad Buenconsejo pitched a strong last four innings, giving up only a meaningless run in the ninth before closing Big Island out.
Buenconsejo also helped at the plate, crushing the second of solo back-to-back homeruns for Oahu in the bottom of the sixth for an 8-5 lead. Just before him, pinch hitter Nohili Naumu led off the inning with a line-drive shot that cleared the left-field fence in a hurry. Ishigo tacked on Oahu's final run when he grounded out later in the inning but drove in Nolan Tokuda from third.
"We're just out here having fun, and I just got something I could hit and luckily I hit it," said Buenconsejo of his home run.
"As a pitcher, we always say that pitchers are the best athletes, and I think we can do both (pitch and hit)," he joked. "But my first love is to pitch."
In the fifth, Walter Grilho hit the first of Oahu's three homeruns on the day when he jacked a first-pitch fastball from losing pitcher Kele Coloma well over the left-field fence for a two-run shot that gave Oahu the lead for good at 6-5.
Baba Lancaster had a two-run double for the Big Island in the loss, and finished with a tournament-high five RBIs in two games. Oahu's Robin Ho finished as the tournament batting champion with a .600 average.
Yesterday's championship was the ninth consecutive state AJA title for Oahu.