No. 2 Mid-Pacific saw what Saint Louis did to Punahou on Thursday and wasn’t about to make the same mistake.

The Owls avoided a loss to the Crusaders during the final week of the regular season to force a one-game playoff with Kamehameha for the outright ILH championship, winning 3-1 on senior day at Mid-Pacific on Saturday.

Punahou, MPI and Kamehameha all entered the last two games of league play tied at 12-2 overall and assured of a berth in next month’s state tournament.

All Saint Louis (9-7) had left was to play the role of spoiler, which it did on Thursday, stunning the Buffanblu 5-4 at Central Oahu Regional Park.

Senior left-hander Ivan Dilda kept the Crusaders from a second straight upset, earning a complete-game victory against Saint Louis for the second time this season.

“I know they’re a fastball-hitting team, so I made my offspeed my main pitch and it worked for me,” said Dilda, who struck out five and walked two.

The Owls finished tied at 14-2 with Kamehameha, which drilled Damien 14-2 on Saturday to win its 13th straight game.

The teams, which split two regular-season meetings, will meet on Tuesday at Mid-Pacific to determine the overall league champion and who gets a first-round bye in the state tournament that begins May 8 at Les Murakami Stadium.

“The kids work all year for this (ILH championship), so that’s their reward,” Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru said. “Win or lose we’re still in the state (tournament), but this is the reward the kids are hoping for.”

The Owls jumped out to an early 1-0 lead on a two-out RBI double by Travis Garcia-Perreira to score Nikolas Alarcio, who led off with a single.

MPI pushed its advantage to 3-0 in the second on an RBI single by Bryce Asato and a sacrifice fly by Brent Sakurai.

That was more than enough support for Dilda, who pitched a shutout in his last start against Saint Louis.

Two of Saint Louis’ five hits came with nobody out in the sixth. Isaac Ramboyan and Rayson Romero delivered singles off Dilda, who avoided any serious damage by getting Ka‘ai Tom, the Crusaders’ No. 3 hitter, to bounce into a double play.

“Ivan did a super job — a crafty lefty, that’s what he is right there,” Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. “He made it difficult on us all day. We talked about the things we needed to do, but from the dugout to the batter’s box, we weren’t able to do it.”

After starting 3-5 in league play, the Crusaders won six of their final eight.

Saint Louis designated hitter Ryder Kuhns had the only multihit day for either team, finishing 2-for-3 with a double.

“We had some things click late, but not enough,” Gusman said. “We were basically inexperienced and young, which is not a good combination, but we’ve got a lot of guys coming back next year, so we’ll be better hopefully.”

Both teams were held to five hits. MPI junior catcher Marcus Doi, a University of Hawaii commit, went 1-for-3.

After allowing three runs in the first two innings, Crusaders starter Jordan Yamamoto faced one batter over the minimum in the last four innings, walking five and striking out two.

At Mid-Pacific

Jordan Yamamoto and Niklas Ajifu. Ivan Dilda and Marcus Doi.
W—Dilda. L—Yamamoto.
Leading hitters—StL: Ryder Kuhns 2-3, 2b. MPI: Travis Garcia-Perreira 1-2, 2b, RBI.

No. 3 Kamehameha 14, Damien 5

Joe Yokoi drove in five runs as the Warriors downed the Monarchs.

At Ala Wai field

Trey Smith, Zach Kaohu (4), Pookela Benanua (4) and Moku Kukonu. Zachary Navas, Lyle Alloy-Glover (3), Austin Gonzalez (7) and Alan Mohika.
W—Benanua. L—Ally-Glover.
Leading hitters—Kamehameha: Yokoi 3-4, 3b, 2 runs, 5 RBIs; Alii Pedrina 2-4, 3b, run, RBI; Tyler Meditz 2-3, 2b, 2 runs; Kukonu 2-3, 2 RBIs. Damien: Skyler Tomisato 1-3, run, RBI; Kolton Jacobs 1-3, run.
Maryknoll 4, St. Francis 3
Blaine Hokama’s triple in the bottom of the seventh drove in Landan Yoshida as the Spartans beat the Saints.

At Ala Wai field

Cyrus Murakami, Tyler Apuna (3) and Tyler Apuna, Cyrus Murakami (3). Aaron Tom and Blaine Hokama.
W—Hokama. L—Murakami.
Leading hitters—St. Francis: Bryson Davis 3-3, 2b; Laakea Moniz 1-4, 2b, 2 RBIs. Maryknoll: Hokama 2-4, 3b, RBI.

Pac-Five 18 ‘Iolani, 12

Jared Osaki’s two-run triple highlighted an eight-run sixth inning as the Wolf Pack defeated the Raiders.

At ‘Iolani field

Micah Witty Oakland, Chris Andreyka (2), Matt Reynolds (5) and Joseph Choy. Troy Oda, Dane Arakawa (4), Bryce Nakamura (6), Tyler Ushio (6) and John Tanaka, Chad Hanaoka (6).
W—Reynolds. L—Nakamura.
Leading hitters—Pac-Five: Colin Schmidt 3-4, 2b, run, 4 RBIs; Jared Osaki 3-5, 3b, run, 2 RBIs; Shawne Hampton 3-5, 2b, run, 2 RBIs; Brayden Yabuki 2-5, 2 2bs, 4 RBIs. ‘Iolani: Tanner Nishioka 2-2, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Christian Donahue 2-4, 2 2bs, run; Troy Odo 1-4, 2B, run, 2 RBIs.