Henson bails out Bloom in HWB

Pittsburgh Pirates prospect Kyle Bloom allowed one run in five innings to help West Oahu beat North Shore 4-1 in Hawaii Winter Baseball at Hans L'Orange Park last night.

Bloom allowed his first earned run since Oct. 16 but failed to get the win because the CaneFires didn't score until the seventh inning. Tyler Henson had the telling blow, hitting a three-run home run off Matt Myer.

Caleb Gindl also went deep for West Oahu, who improved to 15-14 and dropped defending league champion North Shore to 13-17.

» Jeremy Bleich, Javy Guerra, David Pfeiffer and Jeremy Papelbon combined to shut out Honolulu 2-0 for Waikiki at Les Maurakami Stadium.

The BeachBoys (17-13) beat the Sharks (14-15) despite getting only three hits.

Senior Volleyball Invitational announced

For volleyball fanatics, a postseason exhibition—a la the HUB Goodwill Senior Football Classic and the Mufi Hannemann Girls Basketball Jamboree—has been long overdue.

Today, OC-16 will formally announce the selections for the inaugural OC-16 Senior Volleyball Invitational set for Nov. 18-19. Each volleyball team from the ILH and OIA will be represented. Players were nominated by their respective coaches.

The invitational is a goodwill event in nature rather than an all-star tournament, according to HBA athletic director Deren Oshiro, who is also volleyball coordinator for the ILH.

Rosters were drawn by random at yesterday's meeting. Because one ILH school declined to participate and another didn't respond, the extra two player slots will be filled by league champions Kamehameha and Kahuku.

6 from Hawaii granted free agency

Six of Hawaii's minor league baseball players were among the 561 granted free agency Thursday.

They are shortstop Brandon Chaves and outfielder Bronson Sardinha (Cleveland Indians), Brandon Villafuerte, a right-hander, (Florida Marlins), right-handers Jerome Williams (L.A. Dodgers) and Shane Komine (Oakland A's) and third baseman Brian Finegan (Philadelphia Phillies).

Major league catcher Dane Sardinha (Detroit Tigers) has been granted free agency.

Bode earns spot in Honolulu Futures

Hawaii Pacific senior Hendrik Bode earned the singles wild-card entry into next week's main draw of the Honolulu Futures tennis tournament.

Bode, of Lehrte, Germany, defeated England's Matthew Short 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, in yesterday's final at the Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park tennis complex.

Ranked No. 16 in NCAA Division II singles, Bode defeated New York's Nail Khabiyeb in yesterday's earlier semifinal 6-3, 6-3. Short advanced with a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 semifinal victory over Sydney Jim of Texas.

  Another eight singles players will advance to the main draw via the qualifying tournament, scheduled today through Monday. The Honolulu Futures main draw starts Tuesday with both singles and doubles.

PACWEST PLACE

HPU defeats Grand Canyon

Freshman Mark Rogers scored in the 56th minute to lead host Hawaii Pacific past two-time defending conference champion Grand Canyon 1-0 yesterday in the season finale for both teams.

The Sea Warriors (10-5-2, 9-2-1) entered yesterday's matchup trailing first-place Notre Dame de Namur by one point in the standings. However, the Argos defeated Brigham Young-Hawaii 3-0 yesterday to claim the Pacific West Conference title. Hawaii Pacific finished the season in second place.

Yesterday's game marked the last for Sea Warrior seniors Andre Whitt, Toni Bakken, Drew Oesterle, James Gawel and Matt Martinez.

» Hawaii-Hilo ended its season with a 5-3 win over Dixie State yesterday in Hilo.

Five different players scored for the Vulcans (5-11-1, 3-8-1) in a match where both teams combined for 22 shots.

BYU-Hawaii defends conference title

Sarah Welty scored in the ninth minute off an assist from Natasha Aiono in a 2-0 Seasiders victory over visiting Notre Dame de Namur yesterday, becoming Pacific West Champions for the second consecutive year.

Freshman Britt Edman added an insurance goal in the 87th minute as the Seasiders (14-4, 10-2) earned their first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA II West Regional Tournament.

Tournament location and team pairings have yet to be announced. Play begins on Friday.

» Hawaii Pacific defeated Grand Canyon 2-1 yesterday, ending its season in front of a home crowd in Kaneohe.

The Sea Warriors were 5-14 overall, 3-9 in conference.

» Dixie State outshot Hawaii-Hilo 15-2 enroute to a 3-0 win yesterday in Hilo.

The loss dropped the Vulcans to 13-7 for the season.