Kingsley Ah You- Owner
HawaiiDigitalSports.com
kahyou@digitalsports.com
Aloha and Welcome to Hawaii Digital Sports photo presentation of the Wally Yonamine Foundation DI & DII State Championship
PHOTOS:
by Jay Metzger & Dayne Teves of www.metzphotography.com
Click on game below to veiw photo gallery!
Punahou 2, Kamehameha-Kapalama 0
Iolani 7, Hilo 0
READ:
David Kawada
Special to Hawaii Digital sports.com
Rivalry games are always special. Playoffs, or state tournaments take teams to another level. Kamehameha and Punahou combined all aspects mentioned into a game that went 9 innings and lasted nearly 3 hours and 40 minutes. In the end, the magical cloud still flew over the Buff n Blu as they score the only 2 runs of the game in the top of the 9th inning to defeat their ILH rivals 2-0. Punahou will defend their state title on Saturday against Kailua, who defeated Moanalua in the other all OIA semi final.
The Warriors expected to be in this position after winning the ILH tournament. Their bats were hot in the tournamnet with 19 hits in the 2 previous victories over Waiakea and Kamehameha-Maui. Head coach Vern Ramie also had the luxury of putting his ace Chris Pascual on the mound, the benefit of a short appearance in their first game blowout of Waiakea.
But there is a reason why Punahou is a championship program. In their previous 2 games they jumped out early, scoring 2 runs in the 1st innnings against Campbell and Pearl City. That was coach Eric Kadooka’s strategy – to get ahead early, build his team’s confidence, and let his defense and pitching keep the team ahead.
If there is akey for the Buff n Blu inthis year’s tournament, it is their pitching which has been outstanding. Starter Even Lim allowed no runs in 4 1/3 innings. Relivers Marcus Yoshii and Jeremy Fujimoto continued blanking the Warrior bats. Kamehameha was also frustrated every inning as they could not get those timely RBI’s as they stranded 11 runners, often in scoring position
Pascual matched the effort, pitching a masterful 8 innings then being relieved by Alika Pruett in the 9th. That would be the difference.
In the top of the 9th, Pruett struck out the first 2 batters. Then the bottom fell out. Jordan Honjiyo singled. Then advanced to 2nd on a controversial hit batter call on Michael Suiter. On that play, Honjiyo was thrown out at 2nd on a steal attempt which would have been the 3rd out. But Suiter was awarded 1st base on the dead ball call and Honjiyo advanced to 2nd.
The next batter Evan Lim singled to right scoring Honjyo and you could feel the air escape from the Warrior bubble. Sure enough, Tyler Young also singled up the middle scoring Suiter. The Warriors went down 1-2-3 in their home half of the ninth to end their quest for a state title.
Division I Scores:
Semi final – Kailua d Moanalua 6-2
Semi final – Punahou d Kamehameha, 2-0 (9 innings)
State Championship Game – Kailua v Punahou, Saturday @ 7:00p
Division II Scores:
Semi final – Kauai d Molokai, 12-2
Semi final – Maryknoll d St. Anthony, 12-10
For additional box scores go to the official State Baseball Tournament website
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