Furtado, a redshirt sophomore second baseman from Kapa'a, gloved a "laser-shot" line drive with the bases loaded and doubled the runner off first base in the sixth inning, ending a rally that already had produced one run and a 5-4 lead for No. 1-seeded Oklahoma City in the winner-take-all game.

"It was a laser shot," Lewiston Morning Tribune sports editor Jim Browitt told Homegrown Report yesterday. "Had it gone through, it probably would have scored two runs (and put Oklahoma City ahead 8-4)."

Lewis-Clark State scored single runs in the bottom of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to tie, go ahead and win the game, 7-5.

"We really escaped a couple of times," L-C State coach Ed Cheff said. "That bases-loaded line drive? I mean, gee whiz."

It might have been the last great play that Furtado made for Lewis-Clark State. "He is expected to be drafted and sign" in this week's Major League Draft.

L-C State came out of the losers' bracket to take the championship in a tortuous season that Browitt called "perhaps Cheff's best coaching job."

Furtado, a 2000 Kapa'a High graduate, missed the first month of the season with a slight fray on the rotator cuff of his left shoulder and never got into his groove of 2001, when he was either first or second on the team in 12 offensive statistical categories, including a .393 batting average.

In the 2003 regular season, Furtado batted .342 (54 for 158) with 21 RBIs in 42 games.

Backup junior catcher Gavin Concepcion (Pearl City '00) helped L-C State start its climb out of the losers' bracket with a grand slam Wednesday against Bellevue (Neb.). Concepcion did not hit a home run in 27 regular-season games, batting .212 (11 for 52); he started 15 games.

The third player from Hawai'i for L-C state, pitcher Ikaika Lester (Molokai '02), redshirted.

MORE BASEBALL

• New Mexico Highlands

Left fielder Mark Soriano (Leilehua '00) received honorable mention All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in his first season in the high, dry country. He batted .350 (43 for 123) with nine doubles and 21 RBIs in 42 games and 34 starts.

His bad stat was five errors on the bad-hop prone outfield at 6,470-feet high Las Vegas, N.M.

Soriano was the leading hitter in NCAA Division II Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference games most of the early season but "slipped" to .410 in the final weeks and wound up 11th.

He expects to graduate next spring in criminal justice and wants to be an FBI agent. He received his AA degree last year from (junior) College of the Siskiyous in California, where he was first-team all-conference.

• Northwest Conference

Four players from Hawai'i received honorable mention in the NCAA Division III league:

• Linfield (Ore.) senior first baseman Kaleo Saiki (Kamehameha '98 of Moloka'i). He hit .226 (19 for 84) in 34 games.

• Pacific (Ore.) junior third baseman Kyle Shimizu (Maui '00 of Kula). He hit .336 (42 for 125) and had 22 RBIs in 34 games.

• Lewis & Clark (Ore.) junior outfielder Keala-Joe Fujimori (Kalani '00). He was Lewis & Clark's leading batter at .329 (47 for 143) in 38 games. Considered one of the league's most talented outfielders, he was a perfect 1.000 on defense in 113 chances.

• Pacific senior pitcher Derek Akimoto ('Aiea '99). He switched from reliever, where he was a first-team all-conference selection last year with a 7-1 record, to starter. He was 4-4 in 12 starts with a 3.79 earned-run average in 76 innings.

SOFTBALL

• UC-Santa Barbara

About mid-season, the Gauchos needed more offense and better defense, so they moved their second baseman to center field and took a chance on freshman Karyna Wilkerson (Mililani '02), who had looked good in batting practice, and put her at second base.

"She came through," assistant coach Kristi Bredbenner said. "She has very quick hands and gets on top of the ball. Karyna has one of the best swings on this team."