WAIPAHU, Hawaii — A makeshift alliance of Kalihi schools made for a dramatic swing in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title chase on the last day of the regular season.
Kamehameha’s 8-5 win over Punahou in eight innings at Central Oahu Regional Park on Saturday set off a wild celebration as the Warriors secured the top seed for the upcoming ILH tournament, and more importantly, a state tournament berth.
Aydan Lobetos led off the game with a home run and had the go-ahead double in the eighth, and Elijah Ickes was 5-for-5 for Kamehameha (10-4), which trailed Saint Louis (9-4-1) in the loss column coming into the day.
“Happy, blessed, lucky, fortunate, all those clichés,” Warriors coach Daryl Kitagawa said. “(The players) got a hard-fought victory and at the regular season we came out on top.”
Lobetos talked to Spectrum News about his team's wild change in fortunes.
It couldn’t have happened without a timely assist from Damien, the ILH’s only Division II baseball program, which was matched up against the first-place Crusaders just a matter of feet away on an adjacent field.
The Monarchs struck early, stringing a walk and some hits together in a three-run second inning, and got superb pitching performances from starter Francis O’Connor and closer Jamieson Pabalan. They locked down the stunned Crusaders, 4-1, denying them their most direct path to states.
Damien (3-11), the defending Division II state champ that similarly rose up late last season after a rough regular season in the ILH, had lost 11 straight coming into the week before beating Pac-Five on Thursday.
“All season we’ve been struggling a little, but it was all a confidence thing,” Monarchs coach Skyler Tengan said. “So, I think that last game was huge and rolled over into today.”
Tengan said close games against the ILH powerhouses are a great primer for state play against D-II teams.
“This (win) is huge, because we’re off for three weeks,” Tengan said. “So, we can use this energy to practice, get better and get ready for the state tournament.”
Saint Louis was coming off an emotional 7-2 win over Kamehameha two nights prior to reclaim the league lead.
Crusaders coach George Gusman tipped his cap to Damien, the Kalihi school located down the hill from the Kapalama Heights of Kamehameha.
“They were outstanding. The lefty (O’Connor) on the mound was outstanding. They made plays in the infield,” Gusman said. “You know, as the game went on, we started to squeeze a little bit and press a little bit.”
Gusman could sense something was amiss early as his team was swinging up at balls at the plate and struggling to throw strikes on the mound. The Crusaders couldn’t take advantage of a botched squeeze play by the Monarchs.
“We knew what was at stake. We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves,” Gusman said. “(We) knew what we wanted and how to approach this thing, but we just didn’t execute.”
O’Connor tossed 5 2/3 innings before running into trouble. Saint Louis got a bases-loaded walk in the sixth but a timely double play induced by Pabalan and executed by shortstop Aaron Rapoza got the Monarchs out of it. Pabalan got the Crusaders to pop out in the seventh.
The door was open for Kamehameha; the Warriors simply needed to walk through it.
Perhaps easier said than done against Punahou (8-6), which has some of the best talent in the league. When the Damien result went final, the Warriors trailed the Buffanblu 3-1 after two innings. But Kitagawa stuck with starter Greyson Osbun, who lasted 6 1/3 innings, striking out six.
“Greyson battled, didn’t have his A stuff, but was good enough to keep us in the game,” Kitagawa said.
Kamehameha’s rally came with a three-run fifth for a 4-3 lead, but Punahou tied it up at 4-4 in the sixth and the teams went into extras.
The Warriors broke it open with four runs in the top of the frame, stringing together a series of hits, punctuated by Lobetos’ RBI double to go ahead.
Reliever Caleb Okada gave up a run in the bottom of the inning, but recovered quickly to close it out. He struck out four among his five outs recorded, a huge moment for a senior who hadn't played much this season due to injury.
Getting over Thursday’s loss to Saint Louis within 48 hours was no given for the Warriors.
“It was hard. Plus, we had Good Friday off so we couldn’t practice,” Kitagawa said. “But they needed that day off, too. I know a lot of the kids. They’re close, they hung out together, went to the beach, did whatever kid stuff they should do, which was good.”
Punahou’s standout shortstop Nolan Souza homered and drove in two with two runs scored for Punahou.
Saint Louis' second-place standing in the regular season was still valuable, Gusman said; the Crusaders will have an extra playoff game to qualify for the state tournament in case they falter in the ILH tournament.
Some more shots from the day:
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
Editor's note: This story was updated with the correct spelling of Aydan Lobetos' name. (April 10, 2023)