Iolani players celebrate after winning a thirteen inning marathon over Saint Louis. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Iolani's Javin Nohara pitched 8 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball against Saint Louis. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Saint Louis' Kaimi Umebayashi is tagged out at home by Iolani's JR Matsuura in the bottom of the 11th inning. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Iolani's Joshua Inouye knocked home the game-winning run with this swing good for an RBI single against Saint Louis. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Iolani's Christian Donahue slides in safely at home to score the winning run against Saint Louis. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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In one of the most bizarre games this season, or ever for that matter, 'Iolani scored a trip to Maui with a 2-1 win against Saint Louis in 13 innings Saturday at Ala Wai Field.

In a game that started Friday, restarted Saturday afternoon and finished at dusk, Josh Inouye's RBI single in the top 13th won it for the Raiders (8-9) in the playoff for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's second berth into this week's Division I state tournament set for Wednesday through Saturday in Wailuku.

"It was pretty amazing," Inouye said. "We always play for a greater cause. Our teammate's father passed away, Uncle Ron (Darmawan, father of second baseman Austin). We always played for him throughout the season. He was pretty amazing."

So was the game.

The Raiders had go-ahead runs thrown out at the plate to end the 10th and 12th innings.

Worse, though, Saint Louis not only had the potential winning run thrown out at the plate in the 11th, but had another nullified in a premature celebration when Devan Stubblefield hit an apparent bases-loaded single to left in the 12th. But the runner on first failed to touch second base and he went straight into a celebration mob in the infield. Meanwhile, left fielder Inouye, jogging back to the infield with the ball thinking the game was over, was being yelled at teammates and the bench to touch second base, which he did. The home plate umpire, who had remained on the field apparently waiting to see if the Raiders were going to touch the bag, signaled the out. Instead of a hit and RBI, Stubblefield essentially hit into a force play, nullifying the run, sending the 'Iolani side of the field into its own celebration.

"I was trying to yell at him," Saint Louis coach George Gusman said. "In all the jubilation, he wasn't about to hear anything, unfortunately."

All the stunned Crusaders could do was trudge back to the dugout and the starters return to the field for the top of the 13th.

In the top of the 13th, Christian Donohue led off with a single to right off Pono Anderson, Saint Louis' second relief pitcher of the game. Donohue took second on Corey Nakakura's sacrifice. After pinch hitter Joshua Inaba fouled out to first, JR Matsuura walked. Inouye's ground single to left scored Donohue to put the Raiders ahead for the first time all game. Kainoa Fong walked, but Max Look grounded to short for a force at second to end the inning.

Bronson Ichimura, 'Iolani's second reliever of the game, retired the side in order in the bottom of the 13th to end the three-hour game. Ichimura pitched two winnings, walking two and striking out one for the win.

Lost in the madness, was 'Iolani relief pitcher Javin Nohara's performance. He came in for starter Austin Jim On with one out the third and didn't allow a hit over 8 1/3 innings before giving up back-to-back singles in the 11th.

"I was just feeling it today," Nohara said. "I was locating well all my pitches were on today. It just felt really good."

'Iolani's relief pitching wasn't lost on either coach.

"They did a tremendous job," 'Iolani first-year coach Brent Shimokawa said. "The boys battled. They bailed me out because I should've squeezed (in the 12th when the runner was thrown out at home on Nishioka's fly to center). Actually, I called it and I took it off."

"We just didn't hit the ball," Gusman said. "We had our chances early in the game. We didn't cash in on any opportunities. After that, we couldn't hit. We couldn't get people on."

Jim On allowed a run on four hits and four walks with one strikeout in 2 1/3 innings.

The game originally started Friday, but was suspended in the bottom of the third inning with Saint Louis at-bat with a runner on first and no out when it started to rain. The original ruling was that the game would resume at that point of the game, but Saint Louis lodged a protest, saying the game should start over as it does during the regular season. The Crusaders won the protest and the game started over. The lineups of both teams were the same, except Saint Louis started Jordan Yamamoto on the mound, instead of Friday's starter Anderson. The playoff was necessary because 'Iolani was runner-up in the ILH double-elimination tournament and Saint Louis was runner-up in the regular season. Mid-Pacific Institute won both titles for the overall crown and seeded state berth.

Yamamoto threw seven strong innings, allowing an unearned run, three hits and a walk with eight strikeouts. Zeke Wallace followed with three scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, while losing pitcher Anderson allowed a run, two hits and two walks in three innings.

Saint Louis jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Rayson Romero led off with a single to center and Jordan Mopas walked. With runners at first and second Iolani Akau's RBI single moved Mopas to second. Stubblefield's sacrifice moved the runners, but Ryder Kuhns reached on a fielder's choice grounder to the pitcher, who retired Mopas in a rundown between third and home. With courtesy runner Ricky Ahlo-Pinera at third, Kuhns stole second, but Kaimi Umebayashi flied out to center for the third out.

The Crusaders threatened in the third. Stubblefield singled with one out and stole second before Kuhns and Umebayashi drew successive walks to load the bases. That's when Nohara came in for Jim On and got Jacob Gribbin to ground to short for the inning-ending double play. The Crusaders would not get a hit again until the 11th.

'Iolani tied the game in the fifth. Matsuura opened with a single to center and was lifted for courtesy runner Chad Hanaoka, who took second on Inouye's sacrifice. Kainoa Fong's ground out to second moved Hanaoka to third, where he scored on a fielding error by second baseman DJ Dureg. But the inning ended with Austin Darmawan grounding to short for a force at second.

The Raiders threatened in the 10th. Tanner Nishioka singled with two out and Donohue walked. Nakakura hit a grounder to second that Dureg bobbled, making everyone safe. But the speedy Nishioka was thrown out at home from Dureg to Akau to end the inning.

Saint Louis had a chance to win it in the 11th. Umebayashi singled with two out, took second on a wild pitch from Nohara, but was gunned down at the plate on a throw from right fielder Nishioka to catcher Matsuura, ending the inning.

'Iolani had another chance in the 12th. With one out, Max Look reached on shortstop Romero's throwing error and alertly took second when he saw no one covering the bag. Look reached third on Darmawan's flare single to left to put runners at the corners with one out. Nishioka hit flied out to center. Look tagged up, but was gunned down on the throw from center fielder Jay Gribbin to cutoff man Umebayashi to catcher Akau.

In the bottom of the 12th, Kawai Mook-Garcia and Dureg led off with back-to-back walks off Ichimura. Romero's sacrifice attempt instead ended up with a force out third, leaving runners at first and second. Jordan Mopas hit a grounder to second that appeared to be a tailor-made double play, but second baseman Darmawan bobbled the ball, but managed to still get a force at second to put runners at the corners with two out. Akau was hit by a pitch to load the bases and lifted for courtesy runner Ahlo-Pinera. Stubblefield then lined a single to left, sending the Crusaders into a celebration that moments later turned to stunning disbelief after the out call.

"I feel very bad for Saint Louis," Shimokawa said. "They're a tremendous team. They played their hearts out. It's unfortunate somebody had to lose."

It was an especially long week for the Raiders, who lost back-to-back games to MPI in the double-elimination tournament. They then had to play the Crusaders for the last state tournament berth on Friday, only to have it rained out and replay it Saturday. Austin Darmawan said his father's memory helps his team get through moments like Saturday's

"We know that he's always watching over us," the senior second baseman said. "We use him as an inspiration to motivate us to do as best as we can, show everything we've got."

All state tournament berths are set:

ILH: Mid-Pacific, 'Iolani
OIA: Campbell, Kailua, Leilehua, Mililani, Pearl City, Waipahu.
MIL: Baldwin, Maui
BIIF: Waiakea, Hilo.