Maybe, just maybe, the Damien Monarchs play their best baseball when they’re facing elimination.
The purple underdogs of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu pulled off another huge playoff win, rallying with three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to beat regular-season winner St. Francis 9-7 on Tuesday afternoon at Hans L’Orange Park.
Down 7-6 and facing relief pitcher Bubba Akana, Jordan Donahue walked and Jayden Cabbab was hit by a pitch. Kiyo Perry took over on the mound and Shiloh Kaeo laid down a sacrifice bunt. Perry fielded, looked to third base, turned and threw to first — but nobody was covering the bag. The errant throw rocketed down the line and allowed Donahue to score the tying run and Cabbab to score the go-ahead run for an 8-7 Damien lead. After Pomai Kim doubled to left, scoring Cabbab, the Monarchs led by two runs.
The teams will meet for a ninth time on Thursday at Hans L’Orange with the ILH Division II championship — and the league’s lone D-II state-tournament berth — hanging in the balance.
The scenario was already built in: St. Francis needed just one win over league tournament winner Damien to capture the Division II title and advance to the state championships. Damien had to beat St. Francis twice — a mandate set by the league to value the regular-season more, especially with only one state berth allotted.
The Monarchs got heroic performances from a multitude of players. One of them, again, was sophomore Kayson Kajiwara, who pitched the final 22⁄3 innings for the win. The right-hander, who started at second base, recorded a save and rapped out three run-scoring singles back on Saturday, when Damien edged St. Francis 9-6 for the tourney title.
Leadoff hitter Akila Arecchi went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He doesn’t expect his team to lose its edge when Damien meets St. Francis one more time.
“We’re going to stay strong. When we’re down runs, we keep our heads up and have good at-bats,” Arecchi said.
Damien (14-5) was the better fielding team on Tuesday, with two errors to five by St. Francis (14-6). Saints coach Kip Akana knows his team might be reeling after consecutive losses to the Monarchs. His team will be grinding away with a rigorous practice today.
“We already told the boys we’re going all out at practice and come prepared on Thursday,” Akana said. “Tip our caps to Damien. They earned this win.”
It was a wild, seesaw battle with a combined 16 hits, 17 walks and, just for good measure, five hit batters.
