One play made the difference Wednesday in No. 8 Campbell’s 1-0 victory over No. 7 Mililani in the OIA baseball opener for both teams.

Shayden Sabangan, a junior second baseman for the Sabers, stood on third base at the Mililani field and listened to coach Rory Pico for any words of wisdom.

“Coach gave me the head’s up before the pitch,” Sabangan said. “He told me to look for a passed ball or a wild pitch, if anything.”

The third-inning pitch came out of the left hand of Trojans starter Charles Winchester, a breaking ball in the dirt that Campbell’s Jamin Kalaola missed for a third strike and the second out. The ball, however, caromed off Mililani catcher Korrey Siracusa and just on the outside of the dirt circle on the third-base side.

Sabangan broke for home. Siracusa thought he could still make a play, but Sabangan sped home and crossed the plate with what turned out to be the winning run without a throw.

“I should have stopped it and kept it in front,” Siracusa said. “I think I’m athletic enough that I could have done that or even made a play at home. I tried to be too fast with it. I took my eye off the ball and I dropped it, trying to barehand it instead of trying to get two hands on it and toss it to the pitcher.”

And so it goes again for two of the best baseball programs in Central and West Oahu and in the state. Not much difference between the two on the field and it happens nearly every year that their games go right down to the end.

“Any time you can keep a team like Mililani from scoring, you have to have done something right,” Pico said. “Offensively, I would like to execute a little better with some things, better at-bats. We had opportunities with guys on base, but ran into some outs. It’s still young in the season, so maybe we can work to improve those things.”

The Sabers outhit the Trojans 6-2 and got a gem of a pitching performance from Kalaola, who struck out four and didn’t walk a batter. He did, however, get to a 3-0 count twice to Mililani batters in the seventh inning, but got it done. Kalaola gave up only one hit through six innings, and worked to get out of trouble with a runner on second in both the sixth and seventh.

“I fell behind (those batters), but I knew I had to be strong mentally,” the right-hander said. “That’s what we preach in our program — just big-dog moments. Be tough mentally and that’s what helped me get through.”

Winchester took the loss, allowing all six Campbell hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 51⁄3 innings. Reliever Cole Mayeshiro struck out three while keeping the Sabers off the board the rest of the way.

Sabangan’s heroics started in his third-inning at-bat when he beat out an infield grounder to shortstop. He moved to second on Ikaika Ganancial’s single to right and to third on Dylan Ramon’s sacrifice bunt before making the final — and slight — difference in the game.