'Iolani squeaks past Punahou, 4-2

'Iolani's Kainoa Fong celebrates as he crosses home plate. Evan Asato | SL

WAIPAHU - 'Iolani got help from the old and the new and left Punahou blue in a wild - literally - Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I baseball contest Friday night.

Seniors Tanner Nishioka and Austin Darmawan combined for three RBI and three stolen bases and sophomore Corey Nakakura pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief - and drove in an insurance run - to help the Raiders edge the rival Buffanblu, 4-2, at Hans L'Orange Park.

The Raiders' win leaves the bottom 60 percent of the ILH in a battle down to the wire two and three seeds for the ILH postseason tournament. Those two spots are assured qualification for the double-elimination part of the tournament. The fourth and fifth seeds will have to play-in for the fourth spot of the double-elimination portion of the tournament.

'Iolani (4-7) closes out the regular season Tuesday against Kamehameha (3-7), which plays Punahou Saturday and Iolani Tuesday. The Buffanbu (4-6) play Punahou Saturday and Saint Louis (6-5) Tuesday. The Crusaders can finish no worse than third.

Three 'Iolani pitchers combined on a three-hitter, but they also issued 11 walks among them.

"These kids have battled, banding together, believing, pushing for each other," 'Iolani first-year coach Brent Shimokawa said. "Im' proud of them."

'Iolani pitchers pitched out of bases-loaded jams three times.

"We had our opportunities," Punahou coach Kenny Harrison said. "You have to give credit to 'Iolani. They battled. They're trying to survive and it showed today that they wanted it. We had our chances three times. We preach about execution, execution, execution. Executing pitches, plays, picks. Squeeze play we missed. We do that everyday. If we execute, our season is a lot different."

Trailing 1-0 after three innings, the Raiders took the lead for good in the top of the fourth on Darmawan's two-run double with two outs. Even though Darmawan stole third, Punahou starter Dylan Combs registered his eighth strikeout on Austin Jim On.

The Raiders took out an insurance policy in the fifth against Dylan Takamori. Nishioka led off by chopping a single over third. He stole second and third bases on successive pitches and scored on Christian Donohue's sacrifice fly to center. It was a rather shallow fly, but this was the speedy Nishioka, a breakaway receiver in football, on the bases, so Shimokawa sent him.

"I was super lucky," Nishioka said. "You have to be lucky sometimes."

Shimokawa said Nishioka always has the green light to steal.

"I just tell him when not to run," Shimokawa said with a laugh."Tanner's extremely talented. He's a leader by example."

It was a crucial run because Punahou came back with a run in the bottom of the sixth. Nate Higa and Beau Branton drew successive walks off Bronson Ichimura, who pitched out of a bases-loaded situation to end the fourth inning. Higa stole third before Bo Coolen popped out to second. Nakakura came in for Ichimura, who allowed an RBI single to Cole Kanazawa to pull Punahou to 3-2. Brad Chan walked to load the bases with one out. Reece Kato's first offering was in the dirt, but nonetheless, he was obligated to go after the pitch - and missed - on the botched suicide squeeze in which Branton was caught in a rundown as the other runners moved up. Kato eventually walked to reload the bases, but Niko Takayesu lined out to first, as the Buffanblu left the bases loaded for the third time in the game.

"It was definitely a high-pressure situation for me, but I was able to luckily calm myself down, help my team out," Nakakura said of the adventurous sixth inning.

'Iolani added an insurance run in the top of the seventh on Nakakura's RBI single. The damage was kept to a minimum when shortstop Branton turned a double play after making a back-handed stop from the hole.

Didn't matter because Nanakura retired the side in order in the seventh for the save.

Shimokawa said he kept fewer players on the roster this season and warned his players they'd have to be ready when called upon. Center fielder Jim On is a sophomore spelling the injured Max Look. Ichimura, who relieved starter Caleb Duhay, also is a sophomore.

"So everyone's prepared, expecting to come into the game," Shimokawa said.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].