Kamehameha's Kamai baseball tourney MVP
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Chart: The Advertiser's All-Tournament Team
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Senior left-handed pitcher Isaac Kamai of Kamehameha was picked as The Advertiser's Most Valuable Player for last weekend's Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball tournament on Maui.
The Warriors beat Kailua, 4-2, for the championship on Saturday.
Kamai got saves in the Warriors' quarterfinal win against Kaua'i and a semifinal win against Waiakea before pitching a complete-game in the title game against Kailua. He allowed three hits in eight innings with nine strikeouts in his three appearances.
Kamehameha had three position selections. The unusual was third base, shared by Ryson Mauricio and Andrew Phillips. Mauricio was 3-for-3 in the quarterfinals against Kaua'i, including a three-run double in a four-run third inning that sparked the Warriors to a 5-2 win. He went 0 for 1 in the semifinals before his ejection and was replaced by Phillips, who went 3 for 3 the rest of the tournament with two runs and two RBIs. Phillips had an RBI single, hit batsman, walk and sacrifice in the title game. Kamehameha's third base spot had the most hits and RBI among its position players.
The Hawai'i High School Athletic Association polled the media for an All-Tournament team on the final night of the tournament. Instead of voting on deadline, The Advertiser chose to examine its scoresheets from 16 of the 18 games — only two consolation bracket games for teams trying to advance to consolation championship were not scored — before determining its all-tournament team.
More weight was given to performance in championship bracket games, but not exclusively.
