By

POSTED: Monday, November 17, 2008

It went by quickly.

               

     

 

 

WAIKIKI 5 West Oahu 1

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

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Waikiki	AB	R	H	BI	West Oahu	AB	R	H	BI
McOwen cf	3	2	2	1	Peter lf	4	0	0	0
Posey c	3	1	2	3	Hallberg 2b	4	0	2	0
Alonso 1b	2	0	0	0	Gindl rf	4	0	0	0
Kieschnick lf	4	0	0	1	Durham 1b	4	0	0	0
Frazier ss	3	0	0	0	Hankerd dh	4	0	0	0
Sublett dh	4	0	0	0	Skelton c	2	1	0	0
Silverio rf	4	0	0	0	Henson 3b	4	0	2	0
Smith 3b	4	1	2	0	Burns cf	3	0	0	0
Thomas 2b	4	1	1	0	Friday ss	3	0	1	1
Totals	31	5	7	5	Totals	32	1	5	0

                                                                                                                                                           

Waikiki	002	000	300	—	5	7	1
West Oahu	010	000	000	—	1	5	0

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

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Waikiki	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Yoshikawa (W, 1-0)	5	4	1	1	2	6
Richard (S, 1)	4	1	0	0	0	2
West Oahu	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
Scarpetta (L, 0-1)	2 1/3	4	2	2	3	0
Cody	3 2/3	1	0	0	0	2
Kimura	1	2	3	3	1	2
Bishop	2	0	0	0	0	2

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