Greyson Osbun, Alaka‘i Kiakona and Elai Iwanaga combined on a one-hitter as Kamehameha blanked Saint Louis, 4-0, on Monday afternoon for the ILH baseball championship at sunny Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.
Kamehameha (16-5 ILH) came into the title game ranked No. 1 in the Star-Advertiser Baseball Top 10 after beating No. 2 Saint Louis twice last week. The Warriors are the defending state champions.
Osbun went five innings, allowing one hit with four strikeouts, one walk, one hit batter and two wild pitches. Kiakona pitched the fifth, notching a strikeout and walking one, and Iwanaga closed out in the seven, permitting one hit.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today. Not as good as usual. I just go out there and just pitch,” Osbun said. “I perform better when the pressure is on. I like competing in the big moments.”
Osbun plunked Saint Louis’ leadoff batter and starting pitcher, Tanner Chun, and seem to struggle at times. The right-hander still found ways to make big pitches in tight situations. Saint Louis stranded runners in scoring position in the third and fourth innings.
“His mentality, the dog in him, you can’t teach that,” Warriors coach Daryl Kitagawa said of Osbun. “He wants the ball in those situations.”
Kiakona, a southpaw, brought his sweeping curve ball in the sixth inning.
“My curve ball was good. I didn’t have my best stuff today. I was having trouble with the mound, but you go out there and pitch,” Kiakona said.
Iwanaga took over in the seventh inning and Mana Heffernan greeted him with a single. Laakea Correa then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, and pinch hitter Hoko Gaspar flew out to end the game.
“Just going out there trying to blow the doors off for everybody. Just try to throw my fastball as hard as possible,” Iwanaga said.
Saint Louis (13-7 ILH) had opportunities and a solid relief performance from Shannon Fee on the mound. The ILH’s representatives at the state tournament next week are Kamehameha, Saint Louis and ‘Iolani.
“Big credit to (Osbun). He pitched well,” Crusaders coach Benny Agbayani said. “We hit the ball and they made the plays on them. You don’t get credit for hitting the ball hard, but that’s the way the game goes. They jumped on and kept the lead. I’m very proud of our kids. They battled through this rough ILH schedule. It’s a very good accomplishment. Taking over this year, I wanted to make sure they make it to states. It gives them one more opportunity.”
Kamehameha’s all-in approach to great pitching, defense and small-ball offense were the right recipe after finishing second to Saint Louis in the regular season. The Warriors split with the Crusaders during the regular season, then got trounced in the regular-season tiebreaker series final, 12-2. Then, in an eight-day span, Kamehameha defeated Saint Louis three times for the league title: 5-0, 6-5 in eight innings, and 4-0 on Monday.
Before the double-elimination tournament began, Kitagawa was eager to get started. Good teams, he said, love to play high-stakes games.
“Who doesn’t want to be a part of these kinds of games? We’ve been playing our best baseball in these kinds of games. I’m super proud of the kids. I’m super proud of the coaching staff, our administration, our entire baseball program from intermediate to JV. I’m just super grateful and humbled to be the leader of the program,” Kitagawa said. “We talk about it every single day. Playing for each other. Doing your job. Sacrificing yourself for the team. All of it culminates to this.”
The Warriors scored in each of the first three innings. In the top of the first, Jaylen Montero walked, stole second base, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Nalu Grace, and scored on Jace Souza’s opposite-field single to left. Souza delivered the hit on a 1-2 count.
In the top of the second frame, Kaulana Quinlan singled the opposite way with two outs. He stole second base, Montero walked and Grace was plunked on a 2-0 pitch from Chun to load the bases. Chun then unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Quinlan to score from third base. That gave Kamehameha a 2-0 lead.
Chun then walked Souza to re-load the bases. Shannon Fee took the mound and retired Dillon Andres on a fly ball to prevent further damage.
In the top of the third, Matt Zarriello led off with a triple to left center and scored on a one-out, ground single to right by Osbun.
In the bottom of the third, sophomore Kahanu Martinez reached base on a throwing error by Montero, Kamehameha’s shortstop. Martinez advanced on a wild pitch, and after Chun drew a walk, the runners advanced on a second wild pitch by Osbun.
Osbun then took a one-hopper from Kolby Gushiken and tossed to first base to end the inning.
The Crusaders didn’t have a base hit against Osbun until Kaili Kane led off the bottom of the fourth with a single. However, Osbun struck out Sean Yamaguchi and Mana Heffernan, and Laakea Correa’s sinking line drive to short left field was scooped up by Grace with a superb sliding catch.
Kamehameha had just two hits against Shannon Fee, who retired nine out of 10 batters at one point through the middle innings. In the top of the seventh, the Warriors tagged the young right-hander for an unearned run.
Montero walked, moved to second base on another sac bunt by Grace and went to third when Jace Souza’s ground ball to first base was muffed by Heffernan. Fee’s pickoff throw hit the base runner at first, Souza, and while the ball squirted away, Montero raced home to give his team a 4-0 lead.
