WAIPAHU, Hawaii — A razor’s edge separates four teams in contention for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu’s regular-season baseball championship.
With two games remaining this week, Kamehameha leads by a half-game over Saint Louis — thanks to an 11-11 tie between the Crusaders and Iolani Raiders — and one full game over Mid-Pacific.
The winner of the regular season receives an automatic state berth, while two more ILH qualifiers’ fates will come down to the upcoming league tournament.
After last Thursday’s 4-2 win over Mid-Pacific on MLB Opening Day, Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa told Spectrum News he has a saying for his team.
“My new mantra with the kids is, ‘make every day opening day.’ That jitters and that excitement or whatever, you gotta feel it. This is a kids’ game. That’s really our mantra — opening day baby, let’s go.”
Barring a tiebreaker, the first-round title will be settled over the next few days, with everyone in action Tuesday and Thursday. Most games take place at Central Oahu Regional Park.
There is room for movement in the standings.
“We still got a lot more baseball to go,” Kitagawa said.
Here’s a look at the four teams in contention (plus one more not far behind) and who they’ve got left:
The Warriors have won eight of nine since a 1-2 start, with the only loss over that stretch a 4-2 setback to Iolani. Kitagawa’s team has a league-best three shutout victories, including 7-0 against Maryknoll on Saturday.
They play Punahou at 3:30 p.m. at CORP on Tuesday and Saint Louis at 6 p.m. at CORP on Thursday.
Since the 11-11 tie against Iolani on March 23, George Gusman’s defending champion Crusaders have been a bit all over the map, with losses to Mid-Pacific and Punahou and wins against Maryknoll and Pac-Five. Before the tie, they’d been out in front with a 6-1 start.
The Crusaders face Damien at 3:30 p.m. at CORP on Tuesday and Kamehameha at 6 p.m. at CORP on Thursday.
The Owls dropped three of their first four, then proceeded to rattle off six straight before Kamehameha snapped it last Thursday. Dunn Muramaru’s group responded emphatically with an 18-1 rout of Iolani in five innings two days later.
MPI has perhaps the most favorable remaining schedule with Pac-Five at 3:30 p.m. at Goeas Field on Tuesday and Maryknoll at 3 p.m. at Ala Wai Field on Thursday.
Kurt Miyahira’s Raiders have proven they can put up runs in bunches; they’ve scored in double figures six times during ILH play, whereas no other team has done that more than twice. Before absorbing the 18-1 beatdown to MPI, Iolani was unbeaten in its previous five.
Iolani faces Maryknoll at 6 p.m. at CORP on Tuesday and Punahou at 3:30 p.m. at home on Thursday.
While the Buffanblu can’t mathematically win the ILH regular-season title, they’ve got the ability to cause chaos over the next couple of days. They certainly have after a 1-3 start by going 6-2 over their last eight, including a controversial 3-2 win over Saint Louis last Thursday.
Coach Keenan Sue also has one of the state's most talented players in shortstop Nolan Souza.
Punahou has Kamehameha at 3:30 p.m. at CORP on Tuesday and plays at Iolani at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.