Momentum from the previous night's dramatic division-clinching win carried over into yesterday's Hawaii Winter Baseball championship for the Waikiki BeachBoys.

San Francisco Giants prospect Buster Posey hit his first home run of his HWB season to help the BeachBoys extinguish the West Oahu CaneFires, 5-1, before an announced crowd of 1,006 on a sunny Sunday at Les Murakami Stadium.

The BeachBoys clinched the East title Saturday on a two-out, two-run home run by Marquez Smith and when Jeremy Papelbon pitched into and out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth.

Yesterday, Posey's seventh-inning homer cushioned Waikiki's early 2-1 lead.

"Marquez Smith's big two-run homer kept the momentum going into today and Buster Posey's three-run home run kind of broke it open for us," Waikiki manager Juan Bustabad said. "It's a great team effort and we fought hard and we came out on top."

Left-hander Mitsuo Yoshikawa (1-0) allowed a run in five innings, giving up four hits and two walks with six strikeouts for the win.

"Yosh has been great all year," Posey said of his batterymate. "He's a competitor. Even if he gets in a jam, he can get out of it."

Waikiki right-hander Steven Richard gave up a lead-off single in the eighth to Mark Hallberg, who was erased when Caleb Gindl grounded into a double play, for the save.

"He did exactly what you want to do out of the bullpen," Posey said. "He came in, pounded the zone and kept pounding them. That's what you want to do with a four-run lead."

"We needed that," Bustabad added of the two-pitcher collaboration.

The CaneFires, who clinched the West title earlier in the week, staked starter Cody Scarpetta to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

James Skelton walked with one out and stopped at second on Tyler Henson's single to left. A hard slide into second by Henson when the speedy Greg Burns grounded to second for a force kept Waikiki out of an inning-ending double play to set up Brian Friday's RBI single to center.

But Scarpetta (0-1) could not hold the lead in the top of the third.

Tony Thomas Jr. singled with one out and stole second on a hit-and-run that forced James McOwen to swing and miss at a low, inside pitch. McOwen's ground single to center scored Thomas to tie the game at 1.

Scarpetta then walked Posey and Yonder Alonso to load the bases. The left-handed Chris Cody came in for Scarpetta to face the left-handed hitting Roger Kieschnick, the league leader with six home runs, who grounded to first for a force at second that scored McOwen with the go-ahead run.

There was no scoring until the seventh, when right-hander Fumikazu Kimura started the inning for West Oahu.

With one out, Smith grounded a double down the left-field line. After Thomas struck out, McOwen walked. The right-handed hitting Posey then drilled a 1-0 pitch over the right-field fence to blow the game open.

"I hit it pretty well, so I thought it had a chance," Posey said of when he made contact.

It was a fitting finish for Posey, the fifth overall pick in the June draft. He swung the bat well when he got here, left for instructional league for a little over a week and never missed a beat with the bat. He finished fourth in the league in hitting at .338.

For winning, members of the BeachBoys got a watch with a face that reads "2008 HWB Champions" and an HWB duffel bag.

"It's something we can enjoy when we go home," Waikiki shortstop Todd Frazier said.

The West champion CaneFires got the same duffel bag.

PROMOTED

CaneFires hitting coach Chris Truby, who was hitting coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates' High-A Lynchburg (Va.) club, will be manager at Williamsport (Pa.), the short-season Single-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies.

The 1992 Damien Memorial graduate said coaching in HWB allowed him to listen to different perspectives because the managers and coaches are from different organizations and various backgrounds.

"We learn as much as the players," Truby said.

PRESIDENT PLEASED

League president Hervy Kurisu was pleased with the 2008 season. "It was a gratifying season," Kurisu said. "The fans supported us. The players and coaches were tremendous and you couldn't ask for a better ending."

STAT LEADERS

Batting: Dominic Brown (Sharks), .389. Kyle Peter (CaneFires), .370. Mark Hallberg (CaneFires), .362. Buster Posey (BeachBoys), .338. Jason Castro (Honu) and Bradley Emaus (Sharks), .333.

Home runs: Roger Kieschnick (BeachBoys) and Kyle Martin (Honu), 6 each. Cyle Hankerd (CaneFires) and Kala Ka'aihue (Sharks), 5 each.

RBI: Cyle Hankerd (CaneFires), 30. Miles Durham (CaneFires), 28. Kyle Martin (Honu), 26. Roger Kieschnick (BeachBoys), 25.

Runs: Tyler Henson (CaneFires), 28. Miles Durham (CaneFires) and Mark Hallberg (CaneFires), 24 each.

Steals: Ryan Kalish (Honu), 13. Greg Burns (CaneFires) and Kyle Peter ( CaneFires), 11 each.

ERA: Kaimi Mead (Sharks), 1.37. Kyle Bloom (CaneFires), 1.50. David Pfeiffer (BeachBoys), 1.59. Chris Kissock (Sharks), 1.69. Jeremy Bleich (BeachBoys), 1.77.

Wins: Satoshi Nagai (Sharks) and Chris Salberg (CaneFires), 4 each.

Strikeouts: Satoshi Nagai (Sharks), 48. Mitsuo Yoshikawa (BeachBoys), 37. Andrew Brackman (BeachBoys) and Jason Godin (Honu), 36 each. Scott Shaw (Sharks). 35.

Saves: Jeremy Papelbon (BeachBoys), 7. Moises Robles (CaneFires), 5.