Warriors capture ILH baseball title
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
First, he lost the no-hitter. Then, he lost the shutout. But Shannon Kahale didn't lose the game.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Kahale nearly squandered a six-run lead, but was rescued by reliever Ikena Dupont as Kamehameha held off Mid-Pacific Institute, 6-4, last night to capture the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball title at Aloha Stadium.
Kamehameha's Zach McAngus scores on Nick Freitas' fourth-inning double. Awaiting the throw is Mid-Pacific catcher Matt Inouye.
The Warriors (15-4), the ILH regular season champions, will earn one of the top four seeds for next week's state tournament. The Owls (15-5), winners of the ILH tournament that forced last night's playoff for the overall title, has the league's second state berth.
"It's always awesome to win a championship like this," Warriors coach Vern Ramie said. "This was one of our goals and I'm proud of the kids for accomplishing one of the goals. But there's one more goal we'd like to achieve."
Kahale was in command the first five innings, having faced just one batter over the minimum. Two MPI players reached on errors, but one was erased by a double play. But leading 6-0 with one out in the sixth, Kahale walked No. 9 hitter Ryan Leong on four pitches.
After Troy Hanzawa struck out, Matt Inouye lined a single to right to break up Kahale's no-hitter and send Leong to third. Then, Isaac Omura broke the shutout with an RBI double to right. Successive RBI singles by Ryan Basco, Jonathan Hee and Kevin Whalen pulled the defending ILH champion Owls to 6-4.
"I was just trying to throw strikes and end the game, but it got kind of hard," said Kahale, who has signed with Sacramento State. "I was kind of losing composure. When they started hitting, I was getting mad."
But Dupont restored order. He retired Justin Pate, representing the go-ahead run, on a fly to center to end the inning. Dupont pitched a scoreless seventh, getting Hanzawa to line into a game-ending double play.
"I knew he would back me up," Kahale said of Dupont. "He's done that all season."
In 5 1/3 innings, Kahale allowed four runs on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts.
The Owls committed five errors that accounted for five unearned runs.
"We didn't play well," MPI coach Dunn Muramaru said. "But Kahale did a hell of a job on the mound. He kept us off-balance all the time."
The difference turned out to be Keoni Ruth's two-run double in the sixth that made it 6-0. It was his third hit of the game. In hindsight, Muramaru said he should have intentionally walked Ruth.
Losing pitcher Basco allowed two runs — one earned — in three-plus innings. Patrick McGuigan allowed four unearned runs in four innings of relief.
