Punahou topples MPI to win baseball title
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff
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| Punahou's Jared Pate was named the Most Outstanding Player of the HHSAA/Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship last night after pitching a three-hit shutout in a 6-0 victory over Mid-Pacific in the title game.
Photos by Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser |
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| Punahou celebrated its victory over Mid-Pacific in the championship game of the state high school baseball tournament last night at Les Murakami Stadium. It was the school's seventh state baseball title. |
Pate pitched a three-hitter and Punahou pounded 11 hits for a 6-0 victory over Mid-Pacific in the HHSAA/ Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championships last night at Les Murakami Stadium.
Punahou won its seventh baseball championship and first title since 1989. Last night's championship was Punahou coach Eric Kadooka's first.
"It's just a blur right now," said Pate, a junior right-hander who overcame shoulder soreness after Tuesday's game to win his second game in the tournament. "I can't really express how I feel right now. The state tournament is the biggest thing in the state. It feels good to win it."
It was the fourth meeting between the two Interscholastic League of Honolulu schools this season. Mid-Pacific defeated Punahou, 3-1, for the ILH baseball championship on May 11 after the two teams split regular-season games.
Until last night, Punahou (20-6) and Mid-Pacific (18-6) had never played each each other for the state championship.
"We see each other so many times," Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru said. "We won the regular season. They won the state championship. They just won the bigger game. That's all. They're a good ballclub."
On Tuesday, Pate — the only Punahou pitcher to defeat Mid-Pacific this season — earned a complete-game 3-2 victory over Kaiser to open the tournament, but strained his rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder.
Pate rehabilitated the injury at Sports Medicine Hawai'i and took the mound yesterday despite shoulder pain. Pate — selected the tournament's most outstanding player — faced three batters over the minimum for his 79-pitch complete-game victory. He struck out six and walked one.
"Before the game, no one knew how well he was going to pitch," Punahou catcher Robert Kurisu said. "But he sucked it up for the team. It was all mental. Even though he's skinny, he can throw the ball."
Pate said he maintained great control of his curveball, fastball and slider.
"I'm so thankful that everything was on," Pate said. "This is really a team I need to have all my stuff for."
"I just told him to make sure to get his curveball over for first-pitch strikes," Kurisu said. "Keep them off-balance because they're a good fastball-hitting team. He was mixing it up. No one could hit him tonight. He was hitting his spots well."
Punahou opened the scoring with a run in the second inning off Harry Kuroda, who replaced starter Chris Freshour to start the second inning.
With two outs, Justin Ariki reached on an infield hit, moved to second on Shaun Kiriu's walk and scored on Michael Lam's single.
Punahou avoided trouble in the third inning. With two outs and a runner on third, Ryan Asato struck out swinging and ran to first after the ball skipped away from the catcher. However, umpires ruled the play dead when the ball struck Asato after he swung.
Punahou grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning off Kuroda. After Noah Phillips singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Daniel Cho, Kasey Ko blasted a run-scoring double.
"We were patient and made them throw strikes," Ko said. "We just hit hitters' pitches."
Punahou increased its lead to 5-0 in the fourth inning. After Lam singled and moved to third on Mark Veneri's single and a throwing error, Jayson Kramer replaced relief pitcher Conan Young. Phillips then drilled a two-run double and Ko followed with a run-scoring single.
Punahou added a run in the sixth inning on a balk by Kramer that scored Reyn Kubota.
"We never scored six runs against Mid-Pacific," Kadooka said. "Our kids scaled the wall. It's momentum. They believe in themselves, and they're confident."
Reach Brandon Masuoka at bmasuoka@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2458.
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Baseball tournament
WHAT: Wally Yonamine Foundation State Championship
RESULTS TUESDAY
First round
- Leilehua 13, Honoka'a 0
- Roosevelt 4, Hilo 3
- Pearl City 6, Kaua'i 3, 8 innings
- Punahou 3, Kaiser 2
WEDNESDAY
Consolation
- Kaiser 7, Honoka'a 5
Quarterfinals
- Waiakea 5, Pearl City 1
- Punahou 5, Baldwin 1
- 'Aiea 2, Leilehua 1
- Mid-Pacific 4, Roosevelt 3
THURSDAY
Consolation
- Hilo 1, Kaua'i 0
- Leilehua 11, Baldwin 5
- Pearl City 8, Roosevelt 1
Semifinals
- Mid-Pacific 2, Waiakea 0
- Punahou 4, 'Aiea 3
YESTERDAY
Consolation
- Hilo 4, Kaiser 3
Fifth place
- Leilehua 5, Pearl City 2
Third place
- Waiakea 3, 'Aiea 1
Championship
- Punahou 6, Mid-Pacific 0
CONSOLATION
HILO 4, KAISER 3: Jesse Yoshida's two-run double sparked a three-run third inning as the Vikings' (14-3) beat the Cougars (11-5).
Milton Kenui, who had two hits, pitched four innings, allowing two runs on four hits for Hilo. Jonathan Arai gave up a run on three hits in three innings of relief.
KAISER (11-5) 002 000 1 — 3 7 2
HILO (14-3) 013 000 x — 4 5 1
Shannon Wise, Andrew Uehara (3), Reyn Kimura (5), Michael Heu and Jarryd Maeda. Milton Kenui, Jonathan Arai (5) and Keola Holt-Mizuguchi, Matthew Haasenritter (6). W—Kenui. L—Wise. S—Arai.
Leading hitters: Kaiser—Neale Asato 3-4; Nyles Nakama 2-2, double, 2 RBIs. Hilo—Milton Kenui 2-2, double; Jesse Yoshida 2-run double.
FIFTH PLACE
LEILEHUA 5, PEARL CITY 2: Spencer Omalza pitched a six-hitter and drove in three runs as the Mules (14-3) defeated the Chargers (12-6) in a game between OIA Western Division teams.
Omalza allowed two unearned runs with one walk and five strikeouts for his second victory of the tournament. He also hit a run-scoring double in the third inning and a two-run double in the fifth.
LEILEHUA (14-3) 003 020 0 — 5 3 5
PEARL CITY (12-3) 000 002 2 — 2 6 3
Spencer Omalza and Jesse Matsuura. Anthony Ganigan, Shannon Liu (5), Jason Tamanaha (7) and Corey Giammalvo, Kyle Poentis (4). W—Omalza. L—Ganigan.
Leading hitters: Leilehua—Andrew Ontai double, 2 RBIs; Spencer Omalza 2-4, 2 doubles, 3 RBIs. Pearl City—Kyle Poentis 2-2; Joshua Pong 2 RBIs.
THIRD PLACE
WAIAKEA 3, 'AIEA 1: Justin Kekaualua and Matt Patterson combined on a four-hitter, and Justin Pascual drove in two runs to lead the Warriors (16-1) over Na Ali'i (13-3).
With two outs in the seventh inning, 'Aiea loaded the bases but the game was stopped because of the two-hour time limit.
'AIEA (13-3) 001 000 — 1 4 0
WAIAKEA (16-1) 201 000 — 3 8 0
Lance Powell, Hoku Piho (3), Cody Aquino (5) and Brian Morihara. Justin Kekaualua, Matt Patterson (5) and Avery Kagawa, Jensen Sato (4). W—Kekaualua. L—Powell. S—Patterson.
Leading hitters: Waiakea—Avery Kagawa double; Justin Pascual 2-2, double, 2 RBIs.
AND THE WINNER WAS ...
Craig Calantoc pitched 3 1/2 scoreless innings of relief to gain the win in Pearl City's 8-1 victory over Roosevelt in a consolation game Thursday. No winning pitcher was listed in the game summary.
Champions breakdowns by league
ILH 26, OIA 12, MIL 7, BIIF 1
By school
- 8—Iolani
- 7—Punahou
- 4—Baldwin, Kailua, Mid-Pacific, Kamehameha
- 2—'Aiea, Kaiser, Moloka'i
- 1—Campbell, Castle, Farrington, Hilo, Kalani, Leilehua, Maui, Radford, Saint Louis
