Mid-Pacific tops Kamehameha, 5-2, to win ILH title


Mid-Pacific's Travis Garcia-Perreira reacts as the final out is made against Kamehameha. Brien Ing | SL
Travis Garcia-Perreira wasn't feeling nearly his best, but his pitching certainly made it seem quite the opposite.

Battling illness, the Owls' starter came up big, throwing a complete game five-hitter, allowing just one earned run, striking out eight and walking three to lift Mid-Pacific to a 5-2 victory over Kamehameha in a winner-take-all playoff game, marking the school's first ILH league title since 2004.

"He was sick today. I was kind of worried all day. The nurse calls me up and says he's been in the nurse's office... so I was worried more about him than anything else." said Mid-Pacific head coach Dunn Muramaru.

Trey Kodama would get things started for Kamehameha in the first inning, lashing a double to center field with just one out. But Garcia-Perreira would strike out the next two batters in succession to end the scoring threat.

The Owls would respond in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs to provide Garcia-Perreira with some room to work with.

Leadoff batter Nikolas Alarcio would draw a walk, and would advance to second on a bunt attempt by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. The Owls' shortstop would reach first safely on an errant throw, but would run into a Kamehameha player covering the bag. Kiner-Falefa would suffer an apparent ankle injury on the play, but would remain in the game.

That would bring up catcher Marcus Doi, who would rip a shot off of the fence in right center, scoring Alarcio from second easily, and allowing Kiner-Falefa to trot gingerly to third.

Then, Garcia-Perreira would help his own cause, lacing a grounder that would glance off the second baseman's glove, allowing Kiner-Falefa to come home and Doi to move up to third.

Doi would come home on Daniel Fentriss' grounder to second to make the score 3-0 in favor of the home team.

"The three runs (in the) first inning was big... great comfort level to be in." said Garcia-Perreira.

Kamehameha would break through in the fourth, as Moku Kukonu would open up the inning with a single. Courtesy runner James DeJesus would advance to second on a sacrifice bunt and then to third on a fielder's choice. Garcia-Perreira would then walk Pookela Benanua to put runners on the corners. A errant throw on a steal attempt by Benanua on the next at-bat would allow DeJesus to come home to trim the Warriors' margin to two runs.

The Owls would respond in the bottom half of the inning with two runs of their own to push the lead to 5-1, the first coming off of a Cal Muramaru single between first and second to bring home Skylar Tengan, and the second following a high throw on an attempt to steal second that culminated with the runner from third, Brent Sakurai, being called safe on a play that featured a leap over Kukonu and a reach back by Sakurai to touch home plate.

Warriors' starter Keenan Lum pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning to put a cap on a strong outing, giving up just two earned runs on seven hits, walking just one.

Down to just three outs, Kamehameha would not go down with a fight. Joe Yokoi would open up with a shot to left that trickle to the fence for a leadoff double, followed by a single by Ali'i Pedrina to put runners on the corners.

A sacrifice fly by Kodama would cozy the score up to 5-2, but Garcia-Perreira would benefit from a great stop of a grounder by Quinton Collier, a junior reserve who came in for injured starter Kiner-Falefa, who would make the throw to get a critical force out at second for out number two.

"You know Isiah (Kiner-Falefa), he tried to tough it out, but I think the key is when Q (Quinton Collier) went out at short and made a lot of plays, including the tough play in the last inning" said Muramaru.

Then, Garcia-Perreira would jam the final batter into a soaring pop-up to left field to end it, walking back toward the Owls' dugout with his throwing arm raised as the celebration ensued.

Garcia-Perreira was nothing short of dominant, allowing just one earned run on five hits, walking three and striking out eight.

Doi and Tengan would each finish with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate to lead the way for Mid-Pacific offensively.

"Its been awhile since we did it again here (win the ILH title), so I've been telling (our) guys after the two runner-up seasons, just come back next year work harder." said Garcia Perreira. "But we still got a lot of business to take care of this year. The job is still not done."


Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].