Don’t bother scouting Pac-Five’s pitching staff. The Wolfpack are liable to put anyone on the mound.
Landon Teramoto climbed the hill for the first time this month and held St. Francis to one run over five innings in a 9-1 win over the Saints in an ILH Division II playoff game at Central Oahu Regional Park on Tuesday.
The Wolfpack move on to face Maryknoll today, the first of what is essentially a three-game series for the ILH’s berth in next week’s state tournament. Should Pac-Five win today, it would play the Spartans again on Thursday for the tournament title.
If Pac-Five can sweep the next two games, it wins the tournament and the seeded berth. If Maryknoll takes one of the next two games to win the tournament, the two teams play again Friday for the overall league championship.
Pac-Five, the regular-season champion, is 2-1-1 against the Spartans but was blown out 10-2 the last time they met in a tournament game last Saturday.
The Wolfpack (12-2) turned to a new pitcher on Tuesday and will do so again today, when they move shortstop Owen Saito to the hill. Basically, it is all hands on deck for the rest of the season.
“(Teramoto) did a good job. I told him I will give him the ball and just keep us in the game and we will give him the runs,” Pac-Five coach Dennis Fukunaga said.
“Our regular pitchers who only pitch didn’t get the job done, so this is kind of an emergency situation.”
Teramoto failed initially, giving the Saints a 1-0 lead when Tyler Oda tripled to the 410-foot sign in center field in the top of the second, and Janson Kupahu drove him in with a one-handed single to right field.
But just as Fukunaga said, the Wolfpack got him the runs.
Pac-Five’s Cody Schmidt tripled to center field to drive in a pair of runs in the bottom of the second, and Kai Sasaki brought him home with a sacrifice fly to make it 3-1. That was all Teramoto needed. The senior held the Saints scoreless for the next three innings, getting a 4-6-3 double play in the fourth and picking Oda off second later in the inning.
“He threw strikes,” Saint Francis assistant coach Ryan Perreira said. “That’s all you can ask for in a starting pitcher. He was able to do that and kept our hitters off balance with that little curveball he threw once in a while. They were the better team today, and all season, apparently.”
Pac-Five, which outscored St. Francis 57-14 in six wins this year, put up four more runs in the fourth, when Oda took the hill for the Saints and Ryllen Abeshima, Schmidt and Sasaki all singled.
Oda then walked Corey Nakamura, beaned Brayden Yabuki and clipped Braxton Kihara before getting out of the bases-loaded jam with a double play.
The Wolfpack added two more runs in the sixth inning on a fielder’s choice and a delayed steal. Pac-Five’s Caleb Miyasato pitched a perfect sixth, and Frank Perkins closed the door with a perfect seventh, ending the game by catching Haley McDonald looking.
The Saints end their season with a 3-13 record, but walk away with all kinds of positives. They beat Damien earlier this month for their first win in program history, then won two of their next three as players began to believe. The Saints only lose three seniors.
“I am very proud of these guys,” Perreira said. “We promised them at the beginning of the season we needed to change the culture at St. Francis, and we did. We told them that practice for next year starts tomorrow.”
At Central Oahu Regional Park
St. Francis 010 000 0—1 3 2
Pac-Five 030 402 x—9 9 0
Cyrus Murakami, Tyler Apuna (3), Tyler Oda (5) and Royce Torres. Landon Teramoto, Caleb Miyasato (6) Frank Perkins (7) and Ryllen Abeshima. W-Teramoto. L- Murakami
Leading hitters—StF: Tyler Oda 1-2, 3B, RBI. P5: Landon Teramoto 2-3, BB; Cody Schmidt 2-3, 3B, RBI. Kai Sasaki 2-3, 2 RBIs.
