StarBulletin.com

BeachBoys bust out


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POSTED: Monday, November 17, 2008

It went by quickly.

               

     

 

 

                                                                                                                                                   
WAIKIKI5
West Oahu1

       

       

Not as quickly as Fumikazu Kimura's full-count fastball left Les Murakami Stadium after being tagged by Waikiki BeachBoys catcher Buster Posey with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Not as quickly as Waikiki center fielder James McOwen got to the warning track in time to nab the long fly ball hit by Greg Burns of the West Oahu CaneFires in the bottom of the fourth.

The catch likely saved two runs as well as kept the BeachBoys ahead in yesterday's Hawaii Winter Baseball championship game.

Still, the seven weeks that constituted HWB's eighth season “;came and went fast,”; league owner Duane Kurisu said. “;It feels like it just started.”;

The short-season minor league concluded with Waikiki winning its first HWB title, riding timely hitting and the arms of left-hander Kazunori Yamamoto and righty Steven Richard en route to a 5-1 victory over West Oahu.

Yamamoto and Richard combined on a five-hitter, with Yamamoto picking up the win. In five innings he gave up a run on four hits, walked two and struck out six; Richard faced just 13 batters over the next four innings in earning the save.

“;They hit the ball when it counted,”; West Oahu manager Mike Guerrero said. “;They were able to score runs and their pitchers did a good job of keeping us off the bases.

“;You've got to tip your hat to them. They did what they needed to do.”;

One of the biggest plays came in the bottom of the fourth with Waikiki clinging to a 2-1 lead. West Oahu had runners at first and second with one out when Burns drove the ball to deep center.

“;I turned and ran, looked up for it and it was there,”; said McOwen, who took two steps before hitting the wall.

Instead of scoring one, possibly two, the CaneFires came away empty. They had two baserunners after that: Leadoff batter Miles Durham was stranded at second in the sixth, and a leadoff single by Matt Hallberg in the eighth went for naught when Waikiki turned a double play.

Second baseman Hallberg ended up with the MVP trophy, one of six West Oahu players named to the all-league team.

“;It was an honor to come out here and play,”; Hallberg said. “;I don't think you could ask for more as far as the Hawaiian atmosphere, the weather, the culture, the people.”;

The BeachBoys finished with an 8-4 edge in the series with the CaneFires.

“;It was a good season,”; Kurisu said. “;We were able to come back and play at Les Murakami Stadium and the quality of the talent was terrific.

“;At the end of the day the important thing is the players and coaches had a terrific time. They like playing baseball here.”;


All-League Team

1B—Yonder Alonso (Wai)
2B—Mark Hallberg (WO)
3B—Bradley Emaus (Hon)
SS—Kyle Martin (NS)
OF—Kyle Peter (WO)
OF—Cyle Hankerd (WO)
OF—Dominic Brown (Hon)
C—Jason Castro (NS)
U—Buster Posey (Wai)
P—Kyle Bloom (WO)
P—Jeremy Bleich (Wai)
P—Satoshi Nagai (Hon)
RP—Kaimi Mead (Hon)
RP—Jeremy Papelbon (Wai)
RP—David Pfeiffer (Wai)

  Pitcher of the year:

Satoshi Nagai (Hon)

  Offensive player of year: Cyle Hankerd (WO)

  Defensive player of year: Marquez Smith (Wai)

  MVP: Mark Hallberg (WO)

 

BeachBoys 5, CaneFires 1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
WaikikiABRHBIWest OahuABRHBI
McOwen cf3221Peter lf4000
Posey c3123Hallberg 2b4020
Alonso 1b2000Gindl rf4000
Kieschnick lf4001Durham 1b4000
Frazier ss3000Hankerd dh4000
Sublett dh4000Skelton c2100
Silverio rf4000Henson 3b4020
Smith 3b4120Burns cf3000
Thomas 2b4110Friday ss3011
Totals31575Totals32150
                                                                                                                                                           
Waikiki002000300571
West Oahu010000000150

E—Smith. SB—Thomas, Skelton. LOB—Waikiki 4, West Oahu 6. 2B—Smith 2. HR—Posey.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
WaikikiIPHRERBBSO
Yoshikawa (W, 1-0)541126
Richard (S, 1)410002
West OahuIPHRERBBSO
Scarpetta (L, 0-1)2 1/3 42230
Cody3 2/3 10002
Kimura123312
Bishop200002

Umpires—Will Little III(Plate), Jordan Ferrell (First), Tim Eastman (Second), Tom Honec (Third). T—2:42. A—1,006.