Mid-Pacific tops Punahou for ILH baseball title, 3-1

By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer

Conan Young may have entered last night's Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship baseball game as Mid-Pacific Institute's hottest pitcher, but teammate Harry Kuroda proved to be hotter than them all.

"I was in my zone," said Mid-Pacific right-hander Harry Kuroda. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

MPI (16-5) thus secured the ILH's lone automatic state tournament berth, while the Buffanblu (15-6) must travel to play Maui Interscholastic League runner-up Lahainaluna at 2 p.m. Saturday to earn a berth.

That game will be played at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku.

The Owls will get one week to rest before next week's Wally Yonamine Foundation State Tournament at Les Murakami Stadium, thanks in large part to Kuroda's best outing of the season. He entered in relief of Young with no outs in the second inning and MPI leading 1-0 with runners on first and third.

After a run-scoring double play, Kuroda set down 16 batters in a row while the Owls produced single runs in the fourth and sixth.

"I was in my zone; everybody on our team was in a zone," Kuroda said. "Even the guys on the bench — they were all into it all the way until the end."

Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru said Young, a junior left-hander who was coming off two straight victories over Saint Louis, got the start because "he was our hottest pitcher" coming in.

The Owls took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Kuroda's run-scoring groundout, but Punahou quickly put two runners aboard in the second when Kasey Ko led off with a double to left field and Kaohi Downing followed with a bunt single.

That's when Kuroda entered the game, immediately inducing the double play. He then got a strikeout to end the inning and did not allow another baserunner until two outs in the seventh, when Ko stroked a single to right.

Kuroda ended the game with a strikeout, his ninth without a walk.

"Coach (Muramaru) does it all on intuition, so when he told me I'd be in the bullpen and come in as the stopper, I just said, 'OK,' " Kuroda said. "All my pitches were going good — my fastball had good pop, my curve was working, and I mixed in my change and slider. Everything was falling into place."

MPI took a 2-1 lead in the fourth when Brenton Endo got a one-out single to center and eventually scored on a two-out error. The Owls made it 3-1 in the sixth when Endo led off with an infield single, advanced to second on Alan Sunada's sacrifice and third on Nick Furumoto's single before scoring on Chris Goya's groundout.

But as it turned out, Kuroda did not need the insurance run as he set down one Buffanblu after another.

"He was the difference," Punahou coach Eric Kadooka said. "My only concern was if we would be able to play well (after also playing on Saturday and Monday), and we did play well. But it's tough to overcome a guy who's that good. He kept us off-balanced, and we tried to make adjustments, but ... that's why he's the best player in our league. Mentally and physically, he performs his best when he needs to."

Muramaru said he is relieved Mid-Pacific secured the title, after a 15-game regular season and two weeks of tournament play, but feels for all the solid league teams that did not get state berths, including Punahou, which is still alive — barely.

"That's a tough team; they don't quit," Muramaru said. "This was just great baseball (in the ILH). We were real fortunate."

Punahou (15-6) 010 000 0 — 1 4 2
Mid-Pacific (16-6) 100 101 x — 3 7 0

Kurt Fujitani, Kurt Komatsubara (3), Jared Pate (5) and Robert Kurisu; Conan Young, Harry Kuroda (2) and Kip Masuda. W —Kuroda. L — Komatsubara.

Leading hitters: Punahou — Kasey Ko 2-3, double. Mid-Pacific — Ryan Asato 2-3, triple; Brenton Endo 2-2.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.