MPI’s defense, pitching enough to top Saint Louis

Mid-Pacific coach Dunn Muramaru wasn’t thrilled with his team having 10 days off between games, but the Owls showed no signs of rust in a 3-1 victory over Saint Louis on Monday afternoon.

Backed by a spotless defense, starter Shion Matsushita delivered a complete-game gem and the regular-season ILH champions downed a Crusaders squad that had beaten them the last time they took the field.

“It’s never good to have 10 days off. To the kids’ credit, they practiced hard,” Muramaru said. “Tried to fix things that were a little bit broken and tried to get a little confident before we started playing again. They’re a good bunch, it’s a good thing that they worked really hard during that time.”

The Owls held a 1-0 lead after the first inning after leadoff hitter Wyatt Young singled and scored on Kyle Layugan’s sacrifice fly.

A rested Matsushita was perfect his first time through the Saint Louis lineup, needing just 21 pitches to put up three zeros. The senior with an unorthodox sidearm delivery finished with two strikeouts, relying on his defense to get outs.

The Owls responded with no errors, accentuated by shortstop Young, who often made challenging plays look routine and was responsible for many of the Crusaders’ outs to keep Matsushita’s perfect game intact at the time.

“We hit the ball hard,” Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. “Wyatt was outstanding at shortstop today … We hit right at him, he makes solid plays. There’s not much you can do there.”

“I think if my defense didn’t make those plays then I don’t know if I would’ve went the whole game,” Matsushita added. “Some of them surprised me — I thought some of those would be hits. But they got my back. That’s how we won the game.”

After Matsushita retired the first two hitters in the fourth frame, Saint Louis third baseman Hunter Peneueta got his team’s first hit and tied the game in one swing, hitting a home run to center field.

“It was only one run,” Matsushita said. “Our offense backed me up, so I just kept throwing and did what I could for my team.”

Mid-Pacific took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth after Layugan doubled to drive in Cade Yoshimura and Jacob Yoshino.

From there, Matsushita continued to perform at peak efficiency, completing the game in only 55 pitches while giving up four hits and no walks.

“While we were warming up, we would just tell him, ‘Just throw it in there, you got some of the best infielders in the state, just trust them,’” said Laguyan, who was also responsible for calling the game behind the plate. “If they hit the ball, so what? We practice so much and so hard and you just gotta trust your infielders, and so I think that just gave him the confidence to not give a rip about anything, just keep throwing it in there.”

Kanoa Meredith took the loss for Saint Louis, surrendering 11 hits in six innings after 83 pitches.

With the win, the Owls advance to the second round of the ILH playoffs and will face ‘Iolani at home today in the winner’s bracket matchup at 3:30 p.m. Saint Louis will face Maryknoll today at Goeas Field, and the loser’s season ends.

“We just trying to take each game one step at a time, one game at a time,” Young said. “We already forgot about this game and we’re looking forward to tomorrow’s game.”