Seconds after Damien clinched its second consecutive ILH Division II title with a suspense-filled 11-7 win over St. Francis, pitcher Kaimana Cameron pointed to the sky and struck a pose.

“We’ve been here before and we gotta act like we’ve been here before, on to states we go,” he said.

Cameron was right. Last year, after St. Francis won the regular-season title, Damien had to beat the Saints four times in a row to win the ILH and with it the league’s lone state berth. The Monarchs were put in the same scenario this season and produced similar results.

With runners on first and third and one out in the bottom of the seventh, Chase Akana lined out to Damien second baseman Kaysen Kajiwara, who doubled off Reece Kadota at first to end the game.

One year after accomplishing the rare feat, the Monarchs did it again on Saturday at Hans L’Orange park behind a consistent offensive attack that never let St. Francis’ pitchers settle in.

“This team is resilient and they never give up, and that’s one thing that we preach,” Damien coach Timo Donahue said. “Pretty much all the teams I’ve coached, there seems to be a point in time where we do it the long way, so our motto is that we’re going to get our money’s worth and play more games.

“These guys were up to the task so I credit them for staying with the thinking that we wanted them to have.”

After a scoreless first inning, Damien manufactured two runs in each of the next four innings with timely hitting and a power display from Pomai Kim.

“We got guys in and each guy did their job getting the guy over, then the next guy clutches up a base hit,” Donahue said of his team’s execution at the plate. “You couldn’t write it up better than that.”

Kim, the sixth hitter in the Damien batting order, hit home runs on the first two pitches he saw. He first went deep in the second inning to drive in Cameron, and then followed with a solo shot in the fourth inning.

“My mind was blank because I was surprised I hit them, honestly,” he said. “It took hard work and teamwork. I couldn’t have hit the home runs without my teammates back there having my back and in practice they’d rag on me because I couldn’t hit it over.”

Kiyo Perry took the loss for St. Francis, allowing eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Facing an 8-2 deficit heading into the home half the fifth, the Saints responded with a two-run home run from Zach Alcos. After a throwing error from River Iaea with men on second and third, the Damien lead was cut to 8-6.

Damien padded its advantage with a three-run sixth inning after a clutch single from leadoff hitter Akila Arecchi drove in Iaea and Paul Mezurashi. Arecchi, who went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs, was later driven in by Cameron.

At the plate, Cameron went 4-for-4 with three RBIs, a double and two runs. But perhaps his most important work was done on the mound, where he recorded the game’s final seven outs to lock down the save.

“I’m feeling good. Probably my best outing hitting wise.” he said. “Pitching, just need to work on my location and getting the fastball down.

With the season on the line and a pitching rotation that was stretched thin just to make it to Saturday, Donahue turned to Milton Gainey for the start, and the senior kept the St. Francis lineup at bay with four runs allowed in 4 1/3 innings. Kaycee Natividad then recorded an out before yielding to Cameron.

“We talked about it as a staff yesterday. The bottom line was that we were gonna hand the ball to our seniors,” Donahue said. “They each went out there and did their job on the mound. We have a lot of guys and our staff is kind of deep I think, and our seniors just carried it for us.”

While Donahue and his staff relied on experience to achieve the improbable, St. Francis coach Kip Akana believes that his young team can get over the hump next year. “We lose two seniors and bring everybody back. We got some good, young contributors coming up. We just tip our caps to Timo and his staff and players,” Akana said. “We understand it’s a game — somebody has to win, somebody has to lose. We were in a very strong position. There was a mountain for them to climb and they did it and we wish them well in states.”