There were two outs in the top of the seventh inning of a gangbuster battle between St. Francis and Damien for the ILH Division II regular-season title.
And then, with the Monarchs at bat, plenty of sunlight at Ala Wai Field and Kaysen Kajiwara at the plate, both teams ran back to their dugouts.
With the teams’ limited time ending at 6:15 p.m. due to a soccer league permit for usage of the outfield area, Damien saw its shot at the title end. St. Francis endured for a 10-8 victory on Wednesday, winning the ILH first round for a second year in a row.
The win means St. Francis (8-6) will have the top seed in the second round — the playoffs — while Damien (7-7) needs to win the playoff tournament. In that scenario, Damien would meet St. Francis for the league crown and the Saints would need to win just one game while the Monarchs would need to win twice.
It’s a mirror image of last year’s scenario, when Damien came all the way back to win the playoff tourney, then beat St. Francis twice for the ILH D-II crown and the league’s only berth at the D-II state tournament.
The way Wednesday’s game ended, with a handful of soccer players in the deep outfield barely into warmups, didn’t surprise either coaching staff. They were told about the limit in the pregame chat at home plate.
“Quite honestly, it shouldn’t come down to a time limit,” St. Francis coach Kip Akana said.
Damien will protest the game.
“I’ve never done that before,” Monarchs coach Timo Donahue said. “We didn’t know until pregame. Why schedule a game here when it could be at CORP or Goeas Field? I find it mind-boggling that a championship game is scheduled at a site with a time limit.”
The game itself was the typical chippy, intense battle that have turned the two schools into more than frenemies. The dugouts received warnings from the plate umpire during the game, and the coaches met at the plate with the umpire in the late going after more chirping resumed. After the game, one of the Saints said something that drew the ire of Donahue during the handshake line.
The Saints showed what they are ultimately capable of a couple of weeks ago in a stunning upset win over then-No. 1 Mid-Pacific. Against Damien, their archrival, they needed some clutch pitching from southpaw Kiyo Perry, who went 42⁄3 innings and allowed seven earned runs on seven hits. He struck out five, walked three and hit one batter, and though his statistics weren’t spectacular, in the context of what this game meant, he was timely.
“That’s what he’s done all year,” Akana said of his 6-foot-1 ace.
“We won,” Perry said. “Almost all the pitches were off and on, but the changeup was my go-to pitch.”
Zach Alcos moved over from first base to the mound in relief and went the remaining two innings to notch a save. The right-hander was solid with a fastball that popped over the inside edge. He retired all six batters he faced.
Leadoff hitter J.P. Tilley went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and James Yamasaki was 2-for-3 with one run to spark the Saints. Jordan Donahue went 3-for-4 with a triple and RBI, and Pomai Kim was 3-for-4 with a solo homer for the Monarchs, who also committed an uncharacteristic three errors. St. Francis committed two.
