Coming up
TODAY
After 29 days of enforced inactivity because of the public-school teachers' strike, a blizzard of post-strike games start today in OIA baseball and girls basketball — 18 baseball games and 13 girls basketball games today and tomorrow. The pace continues until divisional seasons end for baseball May 8 and basketball May 11. . . . And the girls are wasting no time getting to the heart of the competition. Western Division favorite 'Aiea (3-0) plays at Leilehua (4-0) tonight at 7. . . . In the East, McKinley (3-1) plays at Moanalua (2-1) tonight in what amounts to an "elimination" game from the division race. . . . In the wide-open OIA West baseball race, where five teams are within two "championship points" of first place, almost every game is crucial. Today, for example, 'Aiea (3-0) plays at Campbell (3-1) and Wai'anae (3-1) goes to Pearl City (3-1). The teams that kept sharpest working out on their own during the strike will show it. Weekday games will start one-half hour later than usual, at 4:30 p.m., because of the superintendent's edict that no class time shall be missed for travel or games.
TOMORROW
One of the best high school baseball rivalries anywhere in the U.S. will be renewed when Mid-Pacific and Iolani meet in the winners' bracket final of the ILH baseball tournament, 7 p.m. at Aloha Stadium. The battles between these two in the last decade are legendary. This year they have split two games. . . . Another great rivalry will be renewed in the OIA West when 'Aiea plays at Mililani at 4:30. . . . Defending OIA baseball champ Kailua (3-1 pre-strike) and Kaiser (3-0-1) play in Hawai'i Kai at 4:30.
Stars of the future? Maybe, when Iolani and Punahou Blue meet for the ILH Intermediate Division I basketball championship at 4:30 today at Punahou and St. Andrew's Priory Red and Mid-Pacific (both 8-1) play off for the Intermediate Division II championship at 4:30 p.m. at St. Andrew's.
THURSDAY
Showdown: Two-time defending state champion Kamehameha and Punahou play off for the ILH girls basketball championship, 6 p.m. at Iolani. Bring bandages and stretchers; this is going to be a war. . . . Also in girls basketball, three-time defending champion Kalaheo (4-0) and two-time state Player of the Year Brandy Richardson are host to Farrington (4-0) in the OIA East, 7 p.m. . . . Maui, which canceled its regular seasons because of the strike, opens an eight-team, double-elimination baseball tournament at Iron Maehara Stadium, and a 10-team, single-elimination girls basketball tournament at school sites. Baldwin has the No. 1 seed in basketball and Maui in baseball.
FRIDAY
In OIA West girls basketball, 'Aiea, fresh from its showdown game with also-unbeaten Leilehua on Tuesday, takes on the other unbeaten pre-strike team, Nanakuli (4-0), at home at 7:30. . . . Kaiser vs. Kalaheo at Kailua Rec may be the biggest OIA baseball game, 4:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
First league track and field championships of the year will be the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, at Punahou; field events 1 p.m., track 1:30. . . . The first-ever ILH judo championships will start at 10 a.m. at Kamehameha.
OIA golf championships will be at Makaha for boys at 1 p.m. and at Kalakaua for girls at 12:30 p.m. The top 43 boys and top 24 girls qualify for state tournaments on Maui on May 12. . . . OIA divisional track championships will be at Mililani (West) at 2:15 and at Kaiser (East), time not reported. . . . The ILH baseball tournament championship may be decided in a 7 p.m. game at Aloha Stadium. . . . Kalaheo, off to its best baseball start in years before the strike, will play at Castle, a perennial contender, at 1 p.m. . . . By now, with some teams playing their fourth games of the week, pitching arms should be getting ragged. That will be exacerbated in the OIA West, where haves play have-nots today.
MONDAY
Six girls basketball teams begin a single-elimination tournament for the ILH's second state berth. Division II champion St. Francis plays Division I last-place Mid-Pacific at 6 p.m. at McCabe Gym.
