Pate's arm, balk by Kailua lift Punahou
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Against a near-perfect Jared Pate, Kailua could not afford to make mistakes. But a dropped ball on the pitching rubber balked home the first run in Punahou's 3-1 win for its second consecutive and record-tying eighth overall state baseball title last night before 2,743 at Les Murakami Stadium.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
Pate fired a two-hitter for the Buffanblu, winning the title game for the second year in a row. He had retired the first 14 batters before Matt Kinoshita's line double to right.
Fans applaud Kailua's players after they lost to Punahou, 3-1 in the state championship game.
"It was a fastball right over the plate," Pate said. "It was supposed to go outside.
"Everybody on our team was joking about that (on the bench)," said Pate when asked if he was aware of a potential perfect game.
Pate had to be at his best because he had competition in Kailua starter Michael D'Alessio and reliever Kevin Matsumoto, who combined to allow three runs — one unearned.
With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Punahou's Kaohi Downing singled and took third on Michael Chock's single to right-center. Punahou then sent the left-handed hitting freshman Paul Sneider to pinch-hit for Reyn Kubota, who had already singled in his first at-bat.
"We've done that all year," said Punahou coach Eric Kadooka, explaining that Sneider is like the 10th player in the lineup.
After D'Alessio got ahead in the count at 1-2, Kailua coach Corey Ishigo summoned Matsumoto, who responded by firing a strike to fan Sneider.
"Pate was throwing a good game and we had to stay in it," Ishigo said of making the change in mid-count. "Kevin had 4¡ innings left and I thought that was the best time to put him in."
With Landon Nakata up and a 1-2 count, Matsumoto started his motion, but the ball slipped out of his glove while he was on the rubber. But not until the Punahou coaches claimed the balk did the umpires make the call to put the Buffanblu up 1-0.
"I think it surprised everybody," Kadooka said. "He did it so casually. We yelled and we just wanted somebody, well, Nelson (Valdez, the second base umpire) saw it."
"The ball just slipped out," Matsumoto said. "I was starting my windup and it fell out."
But to Matsumoto's credit, he kept his composure, getting Nakata to ground out to short to end the inning.
"We made mistakes, but we always do," Ishigo said. "It's not like we play perfect baseball. But we played our hearts out and things just didn't go our way tonight."
It wasn't as if the Buffanblu didn't earn their runs. In the fifth, they used some nifty hitting by Kasey Ko, who delivered a perfectly executed hit-and-run double to left-center when he ripped a grounder to where shortstop Tyler Harrison vacated to cover second with the runner going on the play.
"I was just trying to hit the ball hard on the ground," Ko said. "I was lucky that the shortstop ran to cover the base."
But an error aided in Punahou's third run in the sixth. A pick-off throwing error by Matsumoto sent Sneider to third, where he scored on Nakata's ground single to second to make it 3-0.
But it wasn't a cruise for Pate at the end. A dropped pop up by second baseman Maika Murashige allowed Tyler Harrison to reach first and that was followed by an infield single to third baseman Steven Dannaway; Dannaway's throwing error allowed Harrison to take third. But Pate got cleanup hitter Ryan Rodrigues to hit a grounder back to the mound for a double play that scored Harrison.
"It was a slider," Pate said of the double-play ball. He then struck out Kinoshita to end the game.
Iolani also won eight state titles, the last in 1998.
Reach stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8042.
• • •
All-Tournament Team
(Selected by media)
Most Outstanding Player—Jared Pate, Punahou
Pitcher—Jared Pate, Punahou
Pitcher—Kevin Matsumoto, Kailua
Catcher—Kamaka Crabbe, Mililani
Infield—Kasey Ko, Punahou
Infield—Ryson Mauricio, Kamehameha-O'ahu
Infield—Peter Arakawa, Moanalua
Infield—Tony Aquino, Mililani
Outfield—Kyle Fujimoto, Punahou
Outfield—Keli'i Klobucar, Kailua
Outfield—Adam Arakawa, Moanalua
Designated hitter/utility—Bucky Aona, Punahou
Third place
Waiakea 5, Kamehameha-O'ahu 3: Raymond Velez hit a two-run double in a four-run third inning to lead Waiakea past Kamehameha-O'ahu. Scott Ichinotsubo led off Waiakea's third with a walk and went to second when Sheldon Otsuka reached first on an error by the Kamehameha pitcher. Ichinotsubo went to third and Otsuka to second on a wild pitch. After Devin Segawa grounded out to third, Justin Kekaualua walked to fill the bases. Jesse Yamashita then hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Ichinotsubo and sending Otsuka to third and Kekaualua to second. Velez then hit his double to left, scoring Otsuka and Kekaualua. Dustin Kaeo singled to left to score Velez for a 4-0 lead.
Waiakea (16-4) 004 010 0—5 8 0
KS-O'ahu (18-7) 000 200 1—3 5 2
Sheldon Otsuka, Brian Simeona (4), Gary Yu (6), Keko Yockman (7) and Raymond Velez, Rory Inouye (4). David Parrow, Troy Samura (3), Matt Hoapili (4), Kawika Omoto (5), George Kaai, Koa Kaleo (7) and Stuart Kam, Marshall Nishimura (6). W—Simeona. L—Samura.
Leading hitters: Waiakea—Velez double, 2 RBIs; Dustin Kaeo 2-3. Kamehameha-O'ahu—Eli Chee double.
Fifth place
Moanalua 4, Baldwin 3: The Menehunes' Andrew Blomberg, Kekoa Lee and Adam Arakawa combined on a six-hitter, and Arakawa notched a save and had a pair of hits to hold off the Bears. Keita Murakami and Kalehua Moniz combined on a five-hitter for Baldwin, but the Bears couldn't get any runners on base in the last two innings after Jimmy Legsay scored on an unearned run in the fifth.
Baldwin (15-5) 110 010 0—3 6 0
Moanalua (12-3) 021 100 x—4 5 4
Keita Murakami, Kalehua Moniz (5) and Moniz, Brent Kim (5). Andrew Blomberg, Kekoa Lee (2), Adam Arakawa (7) and Donovan Souza. W—Lee. L—Murakami. S—Arakawa.
Leading hitters: Moanalua—Arakawa 2-3; Michael Amorozo 2 runs; Souza double.
Consolation
'Aiea 5, Pearl City 4: Down by a run in the seventh inning, Na Ali'i rallied when Cody Aquino tripled to left field to score Robert Lau and Derek Grace. Andrew Gouveia added a single to right field to score Aquino and put 'Aiea up by two runs. The Chargers managed to cut the lead in half when Kory Valenzona scored on an error with two outs, but Kurt Ogomori lined out with two runners on to end the game. 'Aiea's Reid Nakamura hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to give Na Ali'i a 2-1 lead, but Bryant Katakura's two-run single in the sixth inning put the Chargers back up by one.
'Aiea (11-5) 000 020 3—5 7 3
Pearl City (8-7) 010 002 1—4 7 0
Derek Grace, Kahoku Piho (4), Keenan Naeole (6) and Brian Morihara. Jason Rasa, Jason Tamanaha (5) and Rylan Nakahata, Ryan Mitsuda (5). W—Naeole. L—Tamanaha.
Leading hitters: 'Aiea— Reid Nakamura homer, 2 RBIs; Cody Aquino triple, 2 RBIs; Derek Grace double; Morihara double. Pearl City—Kory Valenzona 2-4; Paul Domingo double; Kurt Tanabe triple; Bryant Katakura 2 RBIs.
Champions since 1975
2005—Punahou (Eric Kadooka)
2004—Punahou (Eric Kadooka)
2003—Kamehameha (Vern Ramie)
2002—Mid-Pacific (Dunn Muramaru)
2001—Kailua (Corey Ishigo)
2000—Moloka'i (Ken Nakayama)
1999—Moloka'i (Ken Nakayama)
1998—Iolani (Dean Yonamine)
1997—Iolani (Dean Yonamine)
1996—Iolani (Herbert Yoshimura)
1995—Baldwin (Kahai Shishido)
1994—Castle (Joe Tom Jr.)
1993—Kaiser (Cory Okamura)
1992—Mid-Pacific (Dunn Muramaru)
1991—Mid-Pacific (Dunn Muramaru)
1990—Mid-Pacific (Dunn Muramaru)
1989—Punahou (Pal Eldredge)
1988—Kamehameha (Ed Allen)
1987—Kamehameha (Ed Allen)
1986—Iolani (Les Uyehara)
1985—Hilo (Eugene Capellas)
1984—Baldwin (Melvin Nakama)
1983—Iolani (Les Uyehara)
1982—Maui (William Perry)
1981—Kaiser (Clayton Fujie)
1980—Kamehameha (Ed Allen)
1979—Radford (Don Kimura)
1978—Campbell (Warren Miyasaki)
1977—Iolani (George Fujishige)
1976—'Aiea (George Anzai)
1975—Iolani (George Fujishige)
