Kamehameha clinches ILH regular season, state berth
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Kamehameha Schools junior Kanekoa Texeira was not about to blow his chance at a free trip home to Maui.
So Texeira, who hails from Kula, blanked Iolani on five hits last night to pitch the Warriors to a 3-0 victory for the Interscholastic league of Honolulu regular season championship. Kamehameha's win also secures one of the ILH's two berths in the state tournament, set for May 15-18 at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku.
Iolani, which had finished tied with the Warriors (12-3) at the end of the regular season to force last night's playoff, now must win the league's eight-team tournament or hope Kamehameha wins it.
The Warriors have clinched at least a playoff for the overall title, and can win the ILH outright by finishing first in the tournament that starts tomorrow.
But no matter what, Texeira has his ticket home.
"This is what I wanted, to play in front of all my family and friends," Texeira said. "I felt great tonight."
Texeira, a hard-throwing right-hander, looked great from the start with his darting fastball and sharp-breaking curve. He struck out seven and walked two, got the leadoff batter out in all seven innings and allowed only one runner past second base.
That was with the score at 0-0 in the top of the fourth inning, when Bert Mitsunaga reached on a strike three wild pitch, took second on Kahiwa Letman's single and went to third on another wild pitch. Texeira escaped the jam by nailing a
3-2 outside curve for his fourth strikeout of the inning.
"He really stepped up for us when we needed him," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said. "He was fantastic. He threw a lot of strikes, and he and (catcher) Baba Merino worked well together all night."
They needed to, because the Warriors had their own troubles on offense. Iolani starter Sean Freas held them scoreless on two hits through the first three innings, until J.P. Kennedy led off the fourth with a walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on an error before scoring on Matt Morgado's groundout to first.
Kamehameha made it 3-0 in the sixth off freshman reliever Wally Marciel when pinch-runner Andrew Phillips stole home and Ryson Mauricio scored on Keoni Ruth's RBI groundout.
"I was pretty scared (when it was only 1-0)," Texeira said. "But when we scored the two runs, I said, 'I got this.'"
The Warriors still finished the game with only three hits.
"Sean and Wally did a good job; I would take my chances on giving Kamehameha only three runs any time," Raiders coach Dean Yonamine said. "We just didn't hit — that's what it came down to. But give (Texeira) credit. He got the first guy out in every inning, and he must have thrown 70 percent strikes. He pitched against us the first time (a 9-6 Iolani win) and wasn't as sharp. But today, you could tell early on he had his good stuff."
Texeira agreed it was nearly the opposite of his first outing against the Raiders.
"Last time, I let the first batter on in every inning," said Texeira. "But we talked about that before the game, to get that first strike over and get the first guy out. That was a key from the start."
Texeira also was helped by an errorless defense that got an inning-ending double play to strand a runner at third in the fifth, in addition to Kennedy's diving stab of a line drive at first base in the first.
"It's a lot of weight off our shoulders, it takes some pressure off," Ramie said of the win. "But we still want to win the (ILH) tournament."
For Iolani, the double-elimination tourney is now its ticket to Maui.
"We had our chances," Yonamine said. "But now everybody's 0-0, and we have to win the tournament. We can't rely on anybody else."
Iolani (11-4) 000 000 0 — 0 5 1
Kamehameha (12-3) 000 102 x — 3 3 0
Sean Freas, Wally Marciel (4) and Kala Ka'aihue; Kanekoa Texeira and Baba Merino. W — Texeira. L — Freas.
Leading hitters: Iolani — Shawn Agustin 2-3, double; Kahiwa Letman 2-2. Kamehameha — Kahe Santos 1-2; Ryson Mauricio 1-2.
MIL
Baldwin, Maui square off: The Maui Interscholastic League regular season has boiled down to this weekend's two-game series pitting Baldwin and Maui, both 12-0.
The teams play at 6:30 tonight and 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Iron Maehara Stadium. If there is a split, then the teams will meet a third time for the regular season title on Monday.
ILH BASKETBALL
Iolani 45, Sacred Hearts 37: Iolani's Ginger Gravelle scored 13 and Hennasea Tokumura 10 to defeat the Lancers.
Sacred Hearts' Megan Burton led all scorers with 23 points.
IOLANI (9-4) 11 15 5 14—45
SACRED HEARTS (3-10) 8 7 8 14—37
IOLANI—Jackie-lynn Sasaki 5, Jennifer Nagamine 3, Hennasea Tokumura 10, Lana Young 5, Ginger Gravelle 13, Marci Kang 0, Alana Wall 0, Kiani Wong 0, Patricia Wong 3, Keri Oyadomori 5, Keilyn Fujioka 0, Chelsea Wong 1. Totals-not reported.
SACRED HEARTS—Nikki Agor 0, Emmy Agustin 2, Colbey Aiwohi 0, Jennifer Faumuina 0, Cherie Kinoshita 4, Nicole Lehner 4, Tiare McClellan 0, Karis Moi-Simeona 3, Tamieka Trujillo 0, Sandy Tsui 0, Lola Williams 0, Kimberlee Young 1, Megan Burton 23. Totals-not reported.
3-point goals—Iolani 6 (Tokumura 2, Sasaki 1, Nagamine 1, Gravelle 1, Wong 1). Sacred Hearts none.
Mid-Pacific 37, Maryknoll 35: Shannon Nishi made two free throws with nine seconds left in overtime to lift the Owls.
MARYKNOLL (6-7) 4 17 12 0 2—35
Mid-pacific (7-6) 10 12 7 4 4—37
MARYKNOLL—Diana Samson 3, Jessica Akamine 2, Tammie Andres 8, Kristie Watanabe 0, Whitney Wong 2, Jessica Ho 0, Lauren Lau 0, Cheryl Lee 13, Sela Fisilau 7. Totals 9 11-13 35.
MID-PACIFIC—Sherice Ajifu 5, Jasmine Vieira 6, Shannon Nishi 9, Mariko Strickland 0, Kristina Lin 3, Kelli Kajiwara 0, Danielle Mafua 2, Morgen Sullivan 4, Caroline Beddow 8. Totals 14 8-14 37.
3-point goals—Maryknoll 2 (Samson, Andres). Mid-Pacific 1 (Lin).
Division II
Iolani 30, Lutheran 21. Iol: Waihea Perreira 8. Luth: Keri Wakabayashi 10.
