Owls upend
Marin Catholic

Defending ILH champion Mid-Pacific received a big day from senior catcher Kip Masuda and a timely go-ahead RBI double from Aaron Fujiki in the bottom of the fifth inning to hold off visiting Marin Catholic (Kentfield, Calif.) 7-5 in day two of the 25th annual Richard Kitamura/Mid-Pacific Tournament.

The tournament began yesterday at various sites and runs through Sunday.

The Owls jumped out to an early lead, keyed by two RBI doubles from Masuda.

Mid-Pacific leadoff batter Chad Takabuki reached first on a hit by pitch and advanced to second when Adam Tamashiro's push bunt scooted past Marin Catholic pitcher Andrew Campbell to give the Owls runners on first and second with no outs in the first.

Masuda, who recently signed a letter of intent to play at Long Beach State, got Mid-Pacific on the board when he belted a 2-1 Campbell offering over center fielder Gregory Hancock's head for the first of his three RBIs on the day.

Owl starting pitcher Jayson Kramer knocked in the second run with a groundout to second base, scoring Tamashiro from third.

Masuda provided the big blow again in the bottom of the second, when he plated Takabuki with another run-scoring double, this time blistering a liner into the left-field corner. Tamashiro drove in the first run of the inning with a hot shot to the left side of the infield that deflected off diving Wildcat third baseman Neil Cowperthwaite's glove and into shallow left to allow pinch runner Seob Yoon to score.

Yoon entered the game as a replacement for starting second baseman Aaron Omura, who injured his right ankle sliding into second on a steal attempt earlier in the inning.

"We hit the ball OK today," said Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru. "Kip had some big hits for us and we hit the ball all right when we had to. But we came up empty twice with runners at second and third with one out and we need to be better about that. But they'll learn."

After Marin Catholic's first three hitters of the fifth inning singled to load the bases, an Owl fielding error, a hit by pitch and a base on balls by Kramer cut Mid-Pacific's lead to just one, at 5-4, but the visitors got no closer.

Mid-Pacific advances to play Roosevelt today. Marin Catholic faces Waimea.