Committee settles OIA softball seeding
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
The O'ahu Interscholastic Association's third-place softball game between Kailua and Pearl City ended in a 2-2 tie after 12 innings Friday, and a state tournament seeding committee took another 45 minutes yesterday to figure out who should be regarded as the OIA's No. 3.
Wednesday (all games at 3 p.m.) Thursday (all games at stadium) Wednesday Thursday
In the end, Kailua (11-1-1) was determined to be the stronger of the two teams and the committee filled out the brackets accordingly.
At Waipi'o Soccer Complex
At Rainbow Wahine Stadium
The impact was huge because although Kailua is a third-place team, the Surfriders are the defending state champion and feature the reigning Advertiser State Player of the Year, junior pitcher Courtney Kessell.
As a result of the bracketing, OIA runner-up Mililani (11-2) must play Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation champion Waimea in the first round on Wednesday and then, if victorious, Interscholastic League of Honolulu champ and No. 1 seed Kamehameha (13-0-1) in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Kailua will play Baldwin in the first round and, if victorious, will play Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Waiakea in the quarterfinals.
Hawai'i High School Athletic Association executive director Keith Amemiya, who was a member of the four-person selection committee, said the only other option was for Mililani and Kailua to swap places, which would have had No. 1 seed Kamehameha facing Kessell in its tournament opener.
"This was a particularly difficult meeting because there are so many good teams in this tournament," Amemiya said. "It's unfortunate that Mililani and Kailua both had to placed in Kamehameha's bracket."
Under a new HHSAA guideline submitted by the OIA and passed at the state's athletic directors conference last summer, the OIA's runner-up and third-place teams must be placed in the bracket opposite the OIA champion.
Kapolei, the OIA champ and No. 2 seed, must be placed opposite Kamehameha, the No. 1 seed.
As for placing Mililani into Kamehameha's quarterfinal slot as opposed to Kailua, Amemiya said the committee had to take into account Kessell and the Surfriders' recent tournament history.
"After the league champions are seeded, the philosophy in bracketing is toward pairings and not necessarily seedings," Amemiya said. "We have to make compromises to make sure all the brackets are balanced and that all the leagues are properly represented."
Kamehameha coach Ty Sing Chow said he doesn't consider his Warriors to be fortunate to have to face either Waimea or Mililani on Thursday instead of Baldwin or Kailua.
"Who would we rather face? None of them," Sing Chow said. "We look at all of them as really tough teams, so I think it's a tossup. No matter what team takes it this year, you know they'll have earned it because they'll all be tough games."
Soccer
• Punahou girls No. 1 seed: Punahou, Mililani, Baldwin and Hawai'i Prep received the top four seeds, respectively, for this week's HHSAA girls soccer tournament at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Stadium.
All four have byes for Wednesday's first round and will begin play in Thursday's quarterfinals.
Correction
• ILH boys title up for grabs: Iolani did not clinch the Interscholastic League of Honolulu boys soccer championship and the league's two state tournament berths have not yet been determined, as reported in yesterday's Advertiser.
Three teams (Iolani, Punahou and Pac-Five) still are in title contention with two more days of action remaining.
Iolani (9-0-3) plays Punahou (9-3-1) at 4:15 p.m. tomorrow at Kapi'olani Park Field No. 3 and then meets Pac-Five (8-2-2) at 4:15 p.m. Thursday at Kapi'olani Field No. 1.
Also tomorrow, Pac-Five plays Hawai'i Baptist (2-9-2) at Kapi'olani Field No. 1 and Mid-Pacific (2-9-2) travels to Kamehameha (8-2-3). Both games are set for 4:15 p.m.
Iolani is in first place with 30 championship points (three points for a win and one for a tie), followed by Punahou (28), Kamehameha (27) and Pac-Five (26).
Kamehameha is out of the championship picture and can earn a state tournament berth only if Iolani and Punahou tie and Pac-Five loses to HBA but defeats Iolani.
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
