HONOLULU — Jace Souza and the Kamehameha Warriors made it worth the wait.
With a timely crack of the bat, Souza delivered the Kapalama campus its first state baseball championship in 20 years as the Warriors walked it off against Baldwin, 5-4, in a worthy Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I title game at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night.
Souza’s one-out triple to the centerfield wall in the bottom of the seventh sent Elijah Ickes sprinting around from first and the rest of the Warriors streaming out of the third base dugout to meet him at home plate. A delirious dogpile ensued on the artificial turf near the backstop.
“(I) 100% felt the game was over,” said Souza, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, of the moment he made contact. “When I hit the ball like that, I know it’s over someone’s head, for real.”
[NOTE: Scroll down for Damien's Division II win over Kauai and more photos of both games.]
After earning the program’s first Interscholastic League of Honolulu title in 17 years, these Warriors, with a deep pitching staff and a lineup full of dangerous hitters, made good on the top overall seed in the 12-team tournament to claim their fifth title in the sport. They gave up just one run over their first two games against Kamehameha-Maui and Campbell, then survived four errors in the championship.
Fifth-year coach Daryl Kitagawa, a Kapalama alumnus, was wistful about what the moment meant for the school on the hill and the “lahui” of people the team represented.
Kamehameha last won it all in 2003 under Vern Ramie.
“Well, it’s a long time coming, to be honest,” Kitagawa said. “I mean, we’ve been blessed with great ballplayers, but the state tournament is hard. It’s not necessarily the best team wins, to be honest. It takes breaks. We won last night (against Campbell) with two hits. All these things culminate to us getting here. It’s lucky, it’s fate, it’s also having good players too. It’s everything involved. I’m just so happy, so blessed and grateful to be a part of the program.”
Ickes, the leadoff hitter in the lineup, was 3-for-3 with a double and came into home plate standing up after Souza’s blast went over the head of the Bears’ center fielder.
Souza, wrapped in a blue and white Warriors flag and soaked from a water jug bath, alternately yelled at the top of his lungs and doubled over while the koa trophy was presented.
“Feels surreal. Feels like I’m in a dream right now, honestly,” the Texas Tech-committed Souza said. “Out of breath. We’ve been working all season for this very moment and it paid off.”
Catcher Aukai Kea drove in two and Cody Branco was 2-for-2.
Ethan Waikiki got the start and went 4 1/3 innings before giving way to Blade Paragas, who’d been a key member of the Warriors’ rotation before a bicep tendinitis affliction just before the ILH playoffs.
He hadn’t pitched in about three weeks but was able to go the final 2 2/3 with five strikeouts, allowing one hit, three walks and a hit batter.
He leaned on his fastball and summoned a breaking ball to finish batters off when he felt they were cheating on the heat.
“Man, I hadn’t faced batters in weeks, so I didn’t know how I was gonna do, but I knew my defense had me,” Paragas said.
The Warriors got to the ballpark early to cheer on Damien in the Division II championship. The Monarchs played a key part in Kamehameha’s season by beating then-leader Saint Louis in the final day of the ILH regular season, allowing the Warriors to slide No. 1 spot and ultimately win the league.
Damien, Kamehameha’s little brother down the hill in Kalihi, beat Kauai 6-5 to repeat as D-II champion.
“What a season,” Paragas said. “We started off (1-2), came back, and then we sneaked into first place with that Damien win, so we were here cheering them on before us. So thanks to them, we got the first seed, then in playoffs. We just got it.”
Baldwin was denied its third championship in six years. It was the second straight year the Bears fell in the championship game.
The Bears got things started in the top of the third with a triple by Bryson Nakamoto. He came in to score on a bases-loaded walk. Christian Dominno and Kaden Anderson added RBIs on a single and a sacrifice fly.
Kamehameha came right back in the bottom of the third with two sacrifice flies and a run that came in via an error.
Baldwin scraped in a run to tie it at 4 in the top of the sixth on a Kamehameha error.
Besides Souza’s hit, Nakamoto had the play of the day when he laid out for a grab on a short pop-up behind first base.
Kadon Antolin went five innings with seven hits allowed for the Bears. Kuhio Aloy was 1-for-2 with two walks to lead Baldwin at the plate.
“Coming into this weekend we were pretty confident that we would get here and hopefully take home the koa, but like I told the kids, in life you don’t always get everything you want,” coach Craig Okita said. “You just gotta deal with it, adversity; come back tomorrow and start with your next go.”
Damien has discovered a working formula: Take its licks in the ILH season, then run clear through states.
The Monarchs, who endured an 11-game losing streak through the heart of league play, came back to beat Kauai 6-5 in the HHSAA Division II final.
Tournament Most Outstanding Player Jamieson Pabalan emerged in relief after the Red Raiders put up all five of their runs in the second inning.
Pabalan was unscathed as he went the final 5 1/3 innings with three hits and three walks allowed. He retired the last six Red Raiders in order.
The senior also scored three runs as the Monarchs’ leadoff hitter.
Damien’s three all-time titles have come in the last four editions of the tournament.
“We’re here to stay. Last season wasn’t a fluke,” Pabalan said of his team’s title on Maui. “We’re just going to keep working from here. … I’m really confident we got a lot of young guys. They got a lot of work to do still yet. But hey, three-peat is in the future, I hear.”
Center fielder Francis O’Connor was 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, including the go-ahead hit to right to score Pabalan from second in the top of the fourth. OJ Yoshida added a triple.
Shortstop Aaron Rapoza redeemed himself after two early errors with a key double-play relay to first in the bottom of the fifth to get the Monarchs out of the inning.
Coach Skyler Tengan was asked if he thought O'Connor's go-ahead hit would stand up in the fourth.
"Honestly, no, I thought it was going to be 12-11 the way this game was going," Tengan replied.
"That double play was huge. We just battled. Credit goes to the boys."
Kauai was denied its fourth state baseball title, the last of which came in 2017.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.
