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Damien players dogpiled behind the mound, exchanged emotional hugs and linked arms to sing the school’s alma mater in front of its contingent with pride.
Everything the Monarchs had come so close to doing a year before became a reality at Les Murakami Stadium after a 12-0 mercy-rule win over Radford in five innings, good for the school’s first state title in baseball.
“It’s definitely a better feeling than last year — coming so close and not getting it done, and this year completing the job,” coach Timo Donahue said. “I think for these guys it’s awesome.”
Three outs away from a state championship last year, Damien was edged by Kauai 5-4.
There was never any doubt on Friday.
Along with nine hits, the Monarchs (15-7) were helped by four errors from Radford (13-3) and a masterful outing from starter Bryce Uyeno.
Uyeno, the team’s ace, started Damien’s 11-1 quarterfinal victory over Konawaena on Wednesday. He was able to come back because his pitch count of 47 was under the HHSAA’s requirement of 60 pitches for two days of required rest.
“I was feeling nervous, a lot of emotions running through my body and mind and everything. I’m glad I could do what my task at hand was,” Uyeno said. “I’m speechless, man. Everything just clicked today. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Damien set the tone in the top of the first when Shiloh Kaeo doubled, then courtesy runner Alohi Arecchi scored on a Jordan Donahue single to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead.
The Monarchs added three more runs in the bottom of the second by capitalizing on Radford’s mistakes. Despite no Damien hits in the inning, Radford committed two errors and starter Tommy Tereschuk walked four.
Tereschuk was taken out in the third inning with no outs after throwing his seventh walk of the day and yielded to Shane Vogt. From there, the Monarchs broke the game open with seven more runs. The Monarchs sent 11 batters up in the frame with five hits and three walks. Kaeo drove in his third run of the day in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to left field for the Monarchs’ final run.
“Coming into this season, we all had a chip on our shoulder. Damien’s always thought of as a second-place school,” Kaeo said. “We lost in football, we lost in basketball and last year we lost in baseball. We just wanted to prove it to the whole island that Damien, we’re something.”
After walking the first two batters he faced, Uyeno cruised through the Radford lineup. He finished with two strikeouts and two walks and surrendered just one hit. He was also aided by a defense behind him that was playing at the top of its game with some challenging catches and no errors.
“They weren’t behind me, they were with me. Everything was in sync from the infield to the outfield,” Uyeno said. “We played as a team today and that’s just what Damien is.”
With two down in the top of the fifth and one out away from a shutout, Uyeno was pulled in favor of Chayne Wayton, a senior.
“Wayton’s been hurt most of the year and we were trying to see when’s a good time to get him into the game,” coach Donahue said. “He’s still recovering from an injury, but we wanted to make sure that he got out there.”
Uyeno, who is a junior, was fine with the pitching change.
“I’m OK with that. He’s a senior, he deserves it,” Uyeno said. “He’s been on this team for a long time. All these seniors, I’m happy for everybody.”
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