Playing championship-caliber baseball, Saint Louis captured its first Interscholastic League of Honolulu regular season title since 1989 with a pulsating 3-1 victory over Mid-Pacific yesterday in a special one-game playoff.

A tense crowd of about 450 at Ala Wai Field watched the Crusaders — ranked No. 1 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media — improve to 14-1 in the ILH and clinch the first of the league's three state tournament berths.

The second-ranked Owls, who handed Saint Louis its only loss, fell to 13-2. Yesterday's playoff became necessary when the two teams finished the regular season schedule tied at 13-1.

The ILH now enters its double-elimination postseason tournament, which starts Saturday. If Saint Louis does not win the tournament, it will play whoever does for the league's overall championship.

"This feels awesome," said Crusaders senior left-hander Josh Saio, who pitched 5 2/3 innings of no-hit ball yesterday to earn the win. "We talk about it all the time — we want to be the team to make history."

The last time Saint Louis won the ILH, future major leaguer Benny Agbayani was its center fielder and leadoff batter.

This Crusaders team features the whole lineup contributing in some way and a collective spirit that seems to get them through tough situations.

MPI took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Russell Doi led off with a walk, advanced to second on Wade Tamaru's sacrifice bunt, took third on a fielder's choice grounder by Easton Torigoe and scored on a bases-loaded walk by Derek Tan.

Saint Louis answered with two outs in the top of the second, as Kaden Kamoe legged out a triple and scored on Lucas Gonsalves' ground single to left.

"That triple and single right after was big, because we were up 1-0 and they had two outs and nobody on," Owls coach Dunn Muramaru said.

The Crusaders took a 2-1 lead in the third inning after Tamatoa DeMello reached on a single to center, stole second, advanced to third on an errant throw and scored on Danny Higa's opposite-field single to right.

Keoni Haina made it 3-1 an inning later when he led off with a towering home run over the left-field fence.

Meanwhile, Saio was quietly shutting down the Mid-Pac offense after leaving the bases loaded in the first inning. He allowed a two-out walk to Doi in the second, but did not allow another baserunner until walking Doi again in the fifth.

The Owls failed to put a runner into scoring position for four straight innings, until Saio allowed back-to-back singles to Mikey Nagamine and Tan with two outs in the sixth. That's when he was relieved by fellow senior DeMello, who came in from center field.

"No hits (for five-plus innings) — that's tough to do against Mid-Pac," Saint Louis coach Duane Fraticelli said. "Josh came out focused, and it was hard to take him out, but he was working on short rest and we were just hoping he could give us at least three solid innings."

Saio said he threw effective change-ups "whenever I had the chance," and focused on throwing strikes.

"I didn't know they had no hits (through 5 2/3) until I came out," said Saio, who struck out four. "When we got the lead, I knew I needed to buckle down and get outs. Against (Mid-Pac) you cannot make mistakes because they're going to capitalize. I give it all to my defense."

The Owls eventually loaded the bases in the sixth when Nick Tasaka walked, and DeMello fell behind 3-0 to the next batter. But he came back with two fastballs for strikes, then got the batter swinging on a low slider.

"I think he was looking for a fastball," said DeMello, who earned a save for the second straight day. "(The strikeout pitch) came right down the middle then broke outside."

DeMello then retired the side in order in the seventh.

"These guys are unreal," Fraticelli said of his team. "They always play together."

SAINT LOUIS (14-1) 011 100 0 — 3 9 1

MID-PACIFIC (13-2) 100 000 0 — 1 2 1

Josh Saio, Tamatoa DeMello (6) and Keoni Haina, Moses Samia (6). Matthew McDaniel and Aaron Fujiki. W — Saio. L — McDaniel. Save — DeMello.

Leading hitters — Saint Louis: Haina solo homer; Kaden Kamoe triple; Lucas Gonsalves 2-2, RBI.