By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

Punahou School displayed a remarkable sense of timing in winning the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Wally Yonamine Foundation State Baseball Championship this year.

Four months later, the Buffanblu now understand just how timely a triumph it really was.

For if the representation table adopted this week had been in place in May, the Buffanblu wouldn't have even been able to qualify for the tournament. With the Interscholastic League of Ho-nolulu now down to one qualifier, maximum, Punahou would have been relegated to watching states on television.

Formulas like that used by the HHSAA to determine representation are a useful device, up to a point. And, as the realigning of state tournament berths in baseball and Division I softball underlines, that point has now been stretched.

When one league, the 22-team O'ahu Interscholastic Association, has not quite three times the number of baseball teams as the most competitive league, the eight-team ILH, but is guaranteed five times the number of state tournament berths, it is time for a re-examination.

When the eight-team ILH, which has won 25 of 46 state baseball tournaments, has the same single state berth as the three-school Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation, which has no baseball titles, it is time to re-think and amend the process to strike a balance between opportunity and competitiveness.

A better example would be to apportion the field along formula lines but leave at least one and, preferably, two, berths open for the best available at-large entrants to be chosen by a committee representing all the leagues.

Once upon a time sheer numbers were viewed as a way to blunt the success of the well-endowed private schools. But, in many cases, that handicap is no longer necessary. The OIA, in particular, has grown competitively. Witness football, where Kahuku has dominated. Or, Division I softball, where it was an all-OIA final last season.

For now, you surmise by its diplomatic silence at the upper levels, the ILH sees this latest move as the reluctant cost of keeping the state championships alive. It seems ILH officials are willing to swallow their disappointment, for the moment at least, to keep from upsetting the sometimes delicate balance of interest and philosophies on which the state championship structure precariously exists.

What the ILH doesn't want to do is give ammunition to the handful of public school chieftans who have advocated breaking away and forming an all-public school association.

Having a true state championship, involving the best from both public and private schools in a competitive environment, is something that is in everybody's best interests.

Finding a more equitable way to make that happen should be the HHSAA's mission.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.