No clear-cut favorite in ILH baseball race

By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

It will be anyone's ball game when the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball season opens tomorrow.

Coaches do not see a clear favorite, even after St. Louis posted a 13-1 record in preseason, including two tournament titles.

"It should be real competitive," Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru said. "Everybody has weaknesses. No team has all strengths."

Some teams, like Punahou and Iolani, were hit hard by graduation. Others, like Mid-Pacific and Iolani, are being hampered by injuries to key players. Owls all-state second baseman Isaac Omura will miss most, if not all, of the season with a minor tear of the left posterior cruciate ligament. Raiders catcher Kala Ka'aihue has a broken foot.

"That might be a little factor," Maryknoll coach Duane Eldredge said. "Those are big losses."

Still, the usual suspects are expected to contend for the league's two state tournament berths. The Big 5 are defending champion Mid-Pacific, Iolani, Kamehameha, St. Louis and Punahou.

Damien, Maryknoll and Pac-Five have improved their programs in recent years and could steal a game here and there from any of the Big 5.

"Last year, Pac-Five and Maryknoll beat some of the bigger schools," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said. "Damien looked good in preseason. This should be a fun season."

There are some quality players around, such as Iolani first baseman Micah Ka'aihue, Kamehameha center fielder Tyler Perkins, St. Louis pitcher Guy McDowell and Mid-Pacific catcher Matt Inouye. Ka'aihue signed with Nebraska, and Inouye (as well as Omura) and McDowell signed with Hawai'i. Perkins has standing offers, but hasn't decided yet.

Here's how the teams look:

Damien: RHP/SS Brandon Tamanaha, a four-year varsity player, 1B/RHP Daniel Chamizo, a three-year veteran with some pop and C Cheyne Kawamoto are the "nucleus of our lineup," coach John Matias said. "We hope to be competitive, stay in our ball games," Matias said. "We're thin on pitching; that's the biggest problem right now."

Iolani: 1B/RHP Micah Ka'aihue, a right-handed thrower, but left-handed hitter, packs a punch, but will miss the protection brother Kala was to provide in the batting order. Still there are other talents like RHP Tyler McCready, RHP Rich Olsen and OF Jay Marcoullier.

Kamehameha: When coaches speak of the Warriors, offense always comes to mind. "They can flat out hit," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said. Added MPI coach Dunn Muramaru: "(CF Tyler) Perkins and (1B Shannon) Kahale have been pounding the ball." Perkins is the prototypical leadoff batter because of his ability to reach base and his speed. SS Keoni Ruth also will be counted on, Ramie said. He fills the vacancy left by Bronson Sardinha, signed by the New York Yankees, who made him the 34th overall selection in the baseball draft last year.

Maryknoll: "We're still the underdogs," Eldredge said. "We're a relatively young team. Not in age, but in ability." The Spartans' big dogs are CF Sean Ortiz and LHP Reily Maeda, who usually draws the Big 5 opponents. Maeda's pitching motion gives left-handed hitters fits, Eldredge said.

Mid-Pacific Institute: The Owls might have had the toughest "up the middle" defense with Omura. CF Ryan Leong, SS Troy Hanzawa and C Matt Inouye, as well as 3B Justin Pate are among the key position players back. RHP Ryan Basco also returns; a sore left shoulder caused him to miss some preseason games. "We haven't had all of our guys for the preseason," Muramaru said because of injuries. "But we should be all right."

Pac-Five: Second-year coach Randy Oyama, a former UH Rainbow, said "70 percent of our team are sophomores." Key players are 2B Kevin Yamada, LHP/1B Owen Simmons, SS Jerris Nakamasu and C Colby Holt. "We've been playing pretty good defense," Oyama said. "That's the stable part of our game. But we have young pitchers."

Punahou: More than half the position players could still play JV for the Buffanblu. "We're going to start two freshmen and three sophomores," Kadooka said. 1B/DH/RHP Kasey Ko (6-2, 200) and SS Landon Nakata are the freshmen and 2B Michael Lam, CF Justin Ariki and RF Michael Kim are the sophomores who are expected to start. They complement seniors like C Todd LaFountaine, RHP Matt Oda and 1B Chad Moriyama. "We're real young, but I think we have enough to give it a shot," Kadooka said.

St. Louis: The Crusaders won the Mililani and MPI/Richard Kitamura tournaments. Their only loss was to Mid-Pacific in the semifinals of the DeSa Tournament. The Crusaders have a strong keystone combo in SS Grandon Costa and 2B Brandon Sato. Both have signed with Hawai'i Pacific. Their defense will be appreciated by RHP Guy McDowell and LHP Kaimi Mead. McDowell signed with UH. "I hope we're in the hunt," St. Louis coach Dean Sato said. "Our kids really play with a lot of pride don't want to lose. I like what I saw in preseason."

Saturday's games

At Joey DeSa Field

• Kamehameha vs. Damien, 1 p.m.

At Ala Wai Field

• Mid-Pacific vs. Maryknoll, noon
• Iolani vs. Punahou, 3 p.m.
• Pac-Five vs. St. Louis, 6 p.m.