West O'ahu gains Best of West title game
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
St. Louis School graduate Isaac Harbottle played second fiddle in the Crusaders' 2000 pitching rotation, but after a year of college seasoning on the Mainland, he returned home with some advice for this year's ace, Brandon League.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
"I told Brandon if he can go up there and throw the slider, he'll dominate," Harbottle said.
Justin Dosher of Yakima, left, connects on a pitch, rounds the bases and slides in for an inside-the-park homer against Baseball Factory.
League, who signed with Pepperdine last fall and was drafted in the second round (59th pick overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays on June 5, could look to his former teammate as an example.
Harbottle pitched a one-hitter yesterday to lead West O'ahu to a 5-0 win over the Hawai'i Roughriders in the semifinals of the Best of the West Classic. West O'ahu will play Yakima, Wash. at 3 p.m. today for the championship of the 19-and-under tournament at Aloha Stadium.
Yakima, which held off West O'ahu, 12-11, in pool play earlier this week, edged Baseball Factory (Mainland all-stars), 1-0 yesterday. West O'ahu coach Ivan Yamasaki said he will use recent University of Hawai'i signee Ricky Bauer as his starting pitcher today.
Yesterday, Harbottle fed the Roughriders (local all-stars) a steady diet of sliders and fastballs en route to his seven-inning shutout. The only hit he allowed was a third-inning double.
"My slider was working, that was the key," said Harbottle, who struck out five. "I would start with the slider, then end with fastballs away."
Former Leilehua standout Cheyne Todani (2-for-4, two RBIs) and recent Mid-Pacific Institute graduate Dane Marcouiller (2-for-3, two RBIs) provided much of the offensive support. Isaac Omura, a senior-to-be at MPI, also went 2-for-3.
West O'ahu took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning after Bauer scored on an error, and stretched it to 3-0 in the third on RBI singles by Todani and Marcouiller. Todani's RBI double in the fourth made it 4-0, and back-to-back doubles by Sean Paiva and Marcouiller made it 5-0 in the fifth.
But the player of the game was Harbottle, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher last year after helping West O'ahu become the first Hawai'i team to win the title since Best of the West began in 1992.
Harbottle played at Saddleback Community College in Mission Viejo, Calif. last season. He went 4-1 with three saves and a 3.30 ERA, helping the Gauchos (35-15) advance to the state playoffs.
"The slider's gotta be my No. 1 pitch," Harbottle said. "They've got bigger guys up there, so you cannot just throw the fastball. You gotta have off-speed movement."
Harbottle also got bigger, adding 15 pounds to his 6-foot frame. He now weighs 190.
Harbottle said he has received a scholarship offer from Hawai'i Pacific and made a verbal commitment to play for the Sea Warriors next season.
West O'ahu actually is a bit of a misnomer, since the team includes players from all over the island as well as Maui. But its tradition dates back to Palomino (Little League) teams coached by Yamasaki in the early 1990s that were based in Mililani/Waipio.
This year's team features other Mid-Pacific standouts like Kyle Yanabu (second-team All-State), Kevin Khan, Ryan Basco, Matt Inouye, Brian Terayama and Justin Pate. It also boasts three all-Maui Interscholastic League players: shortstop Royce Fukuroku and catcher Vance Otake of Maui High, and outfielder Mason Tabata (Baldwin).
Kahuku's Daniel Kawahakui, a first-team all-O'ahu Interscholastic Association Eastern Division pitcher, is another notable name on the roster.
Although the team allows 19-year-olds, some of the younger players still have high school eligibility remaining.
"Otake just finished his sophomore year," Yamasaki said. "You can tell he's still a little raw, but you give him a couple years, he's gonna be really good. And Omura is not that big, but that guy can hit."
In its loss to Yakima, West O'ahu rallied from a 12-8 deficit in the final inning before coming up one run short with the bases loaded.
"(Yakima's) one through nine can hit," Yamasaki said, "and even they're subs are good."
After the tournament, West O'ahu will prepare for the United States Amateur Baseball World Series set for later this month at Carson City, Nev.
Yakima 1, Baseball Factory 0: Justin Dosher's inside-the-park home run in the third inning accounted for all the scoring.
Adolfo Garza, a 34th round pick by the Oakland A's, struck out 13 and walked one for Yakima.
