Posted on: Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Punahou claims ILH tournament crown, 4-1
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Punahou's Shaun Kiriu saw to it there will be a new Interscholastic League of Honolulu and state baseball champion this year.
The 5-foot-9, 175-pound senior right-hander fired a three-hitter and was backed by some key defensive plays to lead Punahou over Kamehameha, 4-1, last night for the ILH tournament championship at Aloha Stadium.
"Senior year, last chance," Kiriu said. "It's either win or go home."
The win ended the season for the defending ILH and state champion Warriors (13-7).
"Give Kamehameha credit," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said. "Tough season. It could have easily been us."
Punahou (15-5) will play Mid-Pacific Institute (15-5), the regular-season champion, for the overall ILH crown, as well as a state tournament berth. Game time is 7 tonight at Aloha Stadium.
The loser of tonight's game will play Lahainaluna on Saturday at Maui for the play-in berth for next week's state tournament.
The Owls are seeking their first league crown since 2001; the Buffanblu haven't won a title since 1994.
"We didn't support (our pitchers) out there today," Kamehameha coach Vern Ramie said. "We had a couple mental breakdowns.
"But you have to give Punahou credit. They battled and made plays when they needed to. They had timely hits and took advantage of our mistakes. They were the better team tonight."
Kiriu, who had a walk with one strikeout in the complete game win, settled after the Warriors scored in the first inning. He hit Travis Young on the first pitch of the game. Two fly outs later, Young stole second and scored on Spenser McCready's double to right-center.
But the Buffanblu scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the first to take the lead. With one out, Michael Lam doubled to left, took third on Mark Veneri's fly out to center and scored on a fielding error that allowed Noah Phillips to reach first. Phillips scored on Kasey Ko's triple off the iron left field wall that caromed into foul territory, away from left fielder McCready to make it 2-1.
In the third, Kiriu hit Andrew Phillips to start the inning. But his alert defense helped him out of the jam. After Young's sacrifice moved Phillips to second, third baseman Steven Dannaway made a nice back-handed stop of a grounder to freeze the runner. But his throw was a little off, allowing Dayne Ogawa to reach first.
It appeared Dannaway was about to atone for the error when he fielded a grounder by Nick Freitas. But Dannaway's throw struck Phillips on the helmet and caromed away. Phillips rounded third, but shortstop Landon Nakata nailed him at the plate for the second out.
"He had to make a perfect throw and he did," said Ramie, who coaches third base. "I thought he had a good chance (to score), but he made a good play."
With runners at first and second and McCready at the plate, Ogawa broke for third while Kiriu still had the ball. He calmly threw to third to get Ogawa to end the inning.
Punahou added a run in the third against Warriors starter David Parrow, and another in the fifth off Kanekoa Texeira.
Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
KAMEHAMEHA 100 000 0—1 3 2
PUNAHOU 201 010 x—4 7 1 David Parrow, Kanekoa Texeira (5) and Eli Chee. Shaun Kiriu and Robert Kurisu. W—Kiriu . L—Parrow.
Leading hitters: Kamehameha—Spenser McCready double, RBI; Nick Freitas double. Punahou—Michael Lam 2-3, double; Kasey Ko 2-3, triple, 2 RBIs.
