It might be a trivia question one day: What began in Waipio, resumed at Moanalua 24 hours later and ended with an ILH baseball championship for the Kamehameha Warriors?
Senior Cade Wehrsig belted a go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning as top-ranked Kamehameha rallied past No. 8 ‘Iolani 9-3 to win the Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball championship Tuesday afternoon at Moanalua.
Regular-season winner Kamehameha finished the round-two, double-elimination league tournament unbeaten, making it a three-peat of ILH titles.
“It felt good to know (‘Iolani) had to beat us three times, but the mindset never changed,” Wehrsig said.
Kamehameha (29-6 overall) will have a first-round bye in the Division I bracket of the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball State Championships on May 7-10 at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku. After thanking his team, Warriors coach Daryl Kitagawa told them they have a day off today. He was also grateful to the host site, Moanalua.
“First of all, big, big thank you to Moanalua High School. Coach Todd Takabuki, (assistant athletic director) Natalie Iwamoto and whoever did what they did to allow us to play here today, thank you so much. If we were out at CORP, we would not have played. There’s no chance with the rain that came down this afternoon, no chance of us playing,” Kitagawa said.
Moanalua’s recently renovated baseball/softball facility has synthetic turf and an impeccable drainage system that showed no effect of a massive downpour one hour before game time.
“We were able to play on a beautiful field,” Kitagawa said.
‘Iolani, which finished second in the ILH’s round-two, double-elimination tournament, needed a win over Kamehameha to force a tournament final. If the Raiders had won on Tuesday and today, they would have played Kamehameha again on Thursday for the league crown.
“Hat’s off to Kamehameha. Congratulations to them. They earned it,” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahara said. “The last two weeks have been fun. We’re fortunate to earn the opportunity to play in the state tournament.”
The game began on Monday at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park, but was suspended in the second inning due to inclement weather. Warriors pitcher Kai Kaneshiro started the game on Monday and finished the second frame at Moanalua on Tuesday.
He yielded to Kupono Barkdull, the first of three sophomore hurlers. Barkdull, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound southpaw, was efficient, with three scoreless innings, three strikeouts and just one walk.
“Coach (Kitagawa) called me last night. He said I would pitch today. I came in a little nervous, but I trusted my stuff. My changeup felt good today. I got the curveball in there,” Barkdull said.
Another lefty, Kaikea Patoc-Young, pitched a scoreless sixth inning, and right-hander Pono Kong closed out a scoreless seventh.
Having perhaps the deepest pitching staff in the state gave the Warriors flexibility, particularly with an unbeaten record in the double-elimination tourney.
“We had Greyson (Osbun) available. We kind of pencilled him in for the next game regardless, and what I didn’t want to do was kill two (starting pitchers) in one game. So we went with three sophomores who didn’t have much mound time,” Kitagawa said. “So we’re super happy. I’m so glad they had the opportunity and came through. Everybody has a part in this team.”
Senior second baseman Logan Akaka led a stellar attack at the plate, going 4-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
“I knew we were going to change up something. I had faith in all our (sophomore) pitchers. I knew they could do it no matter what,” Akaka said. “Kupono has a tough changeup.”
Despite a torrential downpour one hour before game time, the contest resumed only 18 minutes behind schedule with two runners on base and Logan Sanchez at the plate with one out. Sanchez popped out, but Taj Uyehara followed with a grounder to short, where Mana Lau Kong committed an error. That allowed Akaka to score from second base as Kamehameha tied the game at 2.
Kaneshiro went two innings, replaced by Barkdull. Judah Ota led off the top of the third inning with a towering shot over the right-field fence to give ‘Iolani a 3-2 lead.
Kamehameha came up with a defensive gem in the top of fourth. Ethan Akagi singled with two outs for ‘Iolani and courtesy runner Rand Gushiken stole second base. Jadon Anzai lined a single to center, and Gushiken sped around third base, but was thrown out on the throw by Eleu Colburn to end the inning.
Kamehameha surged ahead in the bottom of the fourth. Lawakua Tiberi plunked the first batter, Eleu Colburn, and with two outs, plunked Kia‘i Sylvester.
Dillon Andres then doubled to left, scoring Colburn to tie the game at 3.
Payton Nasu replaced Tiberi and surrendered a three-run homer to right by Cade Wehrsig. Kamehameha led 6-3.
“I was looking for something to hit over the shortstop’s head. I just happened to get an inside fastball,” said Wehrsig, a senior left fielder.
It was his first home run since preseason of 2024.
After Osbun walked and stole second base, Akaka grounded a single to center, scoring Osbun for a four-run Warriors lead.
By the top of the fifth, the field was drenched in sunshine. Lau Kong led off with a single, Chase Thompson walked with one out and Kasyn Amazaki reached base on a fielding error by Akaka at second base. With the bases loaded for the Raiders, Barkdull got Oni Dawson swinging at a pitch in the dirt for strike three, ending the threat.
The Warriors added two runs in the bottom of the fifth with the help of two ‘Iolani errors. Colburn led off with a walk and advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Sanchez. After Uyehara was hit by pitch, Sylvester singled to center, scoring Colburn from second base. Courtesy runner Coen Sardinha also scored when the relay throw from Ota was off target, opening Kamehameha’s lead to 9-3.
The ILH announced that there will be no second-place game. ‘Iolani and Saint Louis already earned state berths. The meeting was supposed to help determine seeding for the state tournament.
Saint Louis coach Benny Agbayani is surprised that the normal format of round-one (regular season) runner-up (Saint Louis) playing the round-two (tournament) runner-up had been canceled.
“It’s confusing and disappointing,” Agbayani said. “They told our athletic director that the tiebreaker is from the tournament. Blane Gaison called our AD (Dan Hale) yesterday (Monday).”
Hale said the tiebreaker is in the ILH by-laws. It pertains to each round separately, giving ‘Iolani the edge in round two.
Saint Louis was second in round one with an 8-4 record. ‘Iolani was 6-7-1. The teams split their two games during the regular season. In round two, ‘Iolani beat Saint Louis 3-1 on Friday to secure no worse than a second-place finish in the (round two) tourney.
Hale was under the impression that the teams would play for second place.
“They originally told me that, but they came back later and said we are third because of the tiebreak,” Hale said.
