ILH vs. ILH in state baseball final

League rivals Punahou and Kamehameha meet tonight on Maui in the championship game

WAILUKU, Maui » The Cinderella story ended well before midnight for Castle. At 7:16 last night to be exact.

That's when Jeeter Ishida closed out an overpowering two-inning relief stint during which he struck out four batters to preserve Punahou's 5-2 semifinal victory over Castle at Iron Maehara Stadium.

The win earned Punahou a berth in tonight's 8 o'clock championship game of the HHSAA/Wally Yonamine Foundation state baseball tournament against Interscholastic League of Honolulu rival Kamehameha, which defeated Waiakea 17-11 in last night's second semifinal, which was reminiscent of a picnic softball game.

In addition to the 28 runs, the teams combined for 25 hits and 12 errors. Kamehameha had three homers -- a game-opening blast by Aaron Nichols, a two-run blast in the third by Ed Dun and a two-run inside-the-park homer by Stuart Kam in the seventh.

"With a two-run lead, it was a good time to bring Jeeter in," said Punahou coach Eric Kadooka, who credited starter Scott Hiramoto with keeping his team in the game "by working out of some big jams by making some big pitches."

Kadooka praised the gritty Knights for a "terrific team for playing as well as they have considering all that's happened to them."

He was referring to the potentially devastating emotional blow of seeing assistant coach Brent Taniguchi suffer a heart attack as Castle was about to take the field in its tournament opener. Taniguchi was described as being in good spirits and recovering from the incident.

Castle coach Joseph Tom expressed pride in his team, which outhit Punahou 9-4.

"Unfortunately, we had a few defensive mistakes that let in some runs and we didn't make the most of our chances at the plate," Tom said.

Consolation Championship

Kamehameha-Hawaii 4, Aiea 3

On the heels of being blanked by Castle's Glenn Silva, Na Alii's season was ended by the Big Island champions in a game shortened to five innings because of the 2-hour time limit on non-championship games.

KS-Hawaii (13-1-1)		000	31		--	4	6	0
Aiea (12-13)		100	02		--	3	6	1

Maka Heidenfeldt, Pono Kaleohano (1) and Kolten Wong. Derek Graces, Keenan Nacole (4) and Brian Morihara. W--Kaleohano. L--Graces.

Leading hitters--KS-Hawaii: Trycen Cosier 2b; Aaron Correa 2-2, RBI. Aiea: Ryan Murakami HR, 2 RBIs; Reid Nakamura 2b.

Baldwin 4, Kaiser 1

Senior right-hander Kalehua Moniz tossed a two-hitter and helped his own cause with a pair of hits, an RBI and a run scored as the Bears advanced to the fifth-place game.

Moniz, who doubles as Baldwin's leadoff hitter, opened the game by lining a double down the left-field line and promptly came home on Shaun Shima's two-run homer that sailed well over the left-field fence.

Kaiser collected its only two hits in the bottom of the first, with Jarryd Maeda driving in the Cougars' only run with single to right-center. Moniz didn't allow a runner past second the rest of the game.

Baldwin (12-2)		220	000	0	--	4	6	0
Kaiser (12-4)		100	000	0	--	1	2	4

Kalehua Moniz and Logan Kan. Jarryd Maeda, Brent Takaki (6) and Andy Uehara, Maeda (6). W--Moniz. L--Maeda.

Leading hitters--Bald: Shaun Shima HR, 2 RBIs; Moniz 2-3, 2b.

Consolation

Kailua 6, Maui 0

Junior right-hander Kili Vierra limited the Sabers to a pair of singles and walked none while striking out eight over seven masterful innings at the Maui High field. The win enabled the Surfriders to earn a berth in today's consolation game against Waimea.

Kailua did the bulk of its damage in the third, scoring four runs.

Kailua (11-5)		004	001	1	--	6	9	0
Maui (10-3)		000	000	0	--	0	2	0

Kili Vierra and Michael D'Alessio. Brandon Gonsalves, Cody Morris (5) and Alex Hunte, Jordan Inamasu (6). W--Vierra. L--Gonsalves.

Leading hitters--Kail: Patrick Murphy 2-3; Kurt Sasaki 2-4.

Waimea 2, Moanalua 1

Max Agor's double to left scored Keith Nonaka with the winning run in the bottom of the seventh at Maui High. Waimea's Bradley Frasco allowed three hits, outdueling Shaun Kaulukukui, who allowed four hits.

Moanalua (11-4)		001	000	0	--	1	3	1
Waimea (12-2)		100	000	1	--	2	4	1

Shaun Kalukukui and Wayde Iwanaga. Bradley Frasco and Brenden Hew. W--Frasco. L--Kalukukui.

Leading hitters--Waim: Max Agor 2b, RBI.

Thursday's late linescores

Kamehameha 4, Kaiser 3, 10 inn.

Kaiser (12-3)	020	000	100	0	--	3	11	1
Kamehameha (13-8)	000	010	200	1	--	4	4	1

Russel Sasaki, Scott Uehera (7) and Jarryd Maeda. Ashton Kuhaulua, Kapono Chang (8) and Stuart Kam. W--Chang. L--Uehera.

Leading hitters--Kais: Jarryd Maeda 2b; Alex Talavera 2-5, RBI; Noel Okuma 2-4, RBI. Kam: Ed Dun 2b.

Castle 2, Aiea 0

Aiea (12-12)		000	000	0	--	0	3	0
Castle (11-5)		002	000	X	--	2	5	2

Cody Aquino, Randy Castillo (6) and Herbert Chung. Pulama Silva and Lyle Kitagawa.

Leading hitters--Castle: Kyle Kanaeholo 2b.

Waiakea 4, Baldwin 3

Baldwin (11-2)		000	012	0	--	3	9	3
Waiakea (11-2)		012	000	1	--	4	5	2

Jimmy Legsay and Logan Kanamu. Brian Simeona, Gary Yu (4) and (catcher's name not available).

Leading hitters--Bald: Kainoa Klask 3-4; Shawn Shima 2-3, RBI; Jimmy Legsay 2-4. Waiak: Jaron Lee 2-3.

HHSAA baseball At Iron Maehara Stadium Seeds: 1. Aiea. 2. Kamehameha. 3. Baldwin. 4. Kamehameha-Hawaii. YESTERDAY 5: Kailua 6, Maui 0 10: Waimea 2, Moanalu 1 11: Kamehameha-Hawaii 4, Aiea 3 12: Baldwin 4, Kaiser 1 13: Punahou 5, Castle 2 14: Kamehameha 17, Waiakea 11 TODAY 15: Waimea vs. Kailua, noon 16: Baldwin vs. Kamehameha-Hawaii, 2:30 p.m. 17: Castle vs. Waiakea, 5 p.m. 18: Punahou vs. Kamehameha, 8 p.m.