Former Icon champs fight tonight

Waipahu's Falaniko Vitale returns to the ring tonight in Denver when he faces Frank Trigg in a battle of former Icon Sport middleweight champions at StrikeForce: Payback.

Vitale (26-8) has won five of his last six fights, but none of those bouts have been against an opponent of Trigg's stature.

Trigg (17-6), best known in Hawaii for his destruction of Jason “;Mayhem”; Miller, is coming off a win in Japan. His only defeats in the last three years are against EliteXC champion Robbie Lawler and WEC champion Carlos Condit, both in Hawaii.

Also featured on the StrikeForce card are Phil Baroni, Duane “;Bang”; Ludwig and Michelle Waterson.

The card is being broadcast live on HDNet (Oceanic Dig. Channel 1355) at 4 p.m.

Mitchell leads Sharks past Honu

Michael Mitchell stroked three hits, two of them doubles, to help the Honolulu Sharks to a 6-2 win over the North Shore Honu in Hawaii Winter Baseball yesterday at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu.

Mitchell, who is affiliated with the Colorado Rockies, scored a pair of runs from the second spot in the order.

The coaches from both teams agreed to shorten the contest to seven innings to save pitchers arms. The Sharks improved to 3-1-1 while the Honu dropped to 1-3-1.

» Yankees prospect Damon Sublett had a pair of hits and drove in four runs as Waikiki blitzed West Oahu 11-2 in a nine-inning game in the nightcap.

Yuhei Takai earned the win by allowing one run over four innings.