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Coaches will often say that a well-timed loss can serve as a blessing in disguise.

But sometimes a hard-fought win can do just the same.

That's just what former Campbell baseball coach Rory Pico recalls of a regular-season game against Pearl City on the afternoon of March 16, 2013.

Pico's Sabers came away with a nail-biting 3-2 win in 11 innings, but only after a most bizarre finish.

With two outs in the bottom of the 11th inning, Brannon Okinaka reached base with a single to left-center. On an 0-1 pitch to the next batter, Okinaka stole second and went to third when the catcher's throw hit the diving Okinaka's arm. After a high throw over the third baseman got away, Okinaka broke for home and dove into the plate safely just ahead of the throw.

Just your typical walk-off winner.

"When the ball went over the third baseman and into the third base foul line area, the pitcher and catcher both went after the overthrow and they left home plate unattended and it just became a scramble between the first baseman and the pitcher and the catcher all running for home plate," Pico reminisced.

"It was just one of those things, in a close game like that with all the things going on and how runs were being scored, it was an intense game and ending. Our side was enthusiastic and celebrating, Pearl City was dejected and upset, but that's why you play the games and that's why we play sports. The crowd was going crazy; it was a very emotional finish," he added.

The Sabers twice had to come back from a one-run deficit earlier in the contest, including in the ninth inning, when Pearl City plated a run in the top of the frame on a bizarre play of its own.

Tanner Tokunaga led off the top of the ninth for the Chargers with a single and stole second. Tokunaga was caught in a rundown after Colby Hirano put a ball into play that was fielded by Campbell pitcher Ian Kahaloa. But Tokunaga still managed to get to third base. Meanwhile, Hirano tried to take second behind Tokunaga and got caught in a rundown of his own, which allowed Tokunaga to score the go-ahead run.

"I vaguely remember it," said Pico, now the athletic director at Campbell. "At the time it's a tight game and runs are scarce, so when that happened obviously it was a huge blow to our confidence, but that's part of the progress — rundowns and stuff — you try to address those things, especially with younger players, at the beginning of the season, but we hadn't gotten to that point that we had practiced it enough. Ian did the right thing, he got (Tokunaga) into a pickle, but didn't execute it, but throughout the season it's a learning process and hopefully you can get through it in the preseason, but with younger players and trying to get that group together, it was part of the process."

But Pico's squad proved to be resilient enough to tie it in the bottom of the inning — and Okinaka was involved in that run as well.

After Dorrien Villanueva-Hermosura was hit by a pitch to lead-off the Campbell ninth, he was replaced on the base paths by pinch runner Zachary Recolan. Pearl City pitcher Sean Milan got Dewayne Sprinkel to pop up for the first out, but he then walked Kahaloa to put two runners aboard. Okinaka then hit a tailor-made double-play ball, but hustled down the line to beat out the relay, which left runners at the corners with two outs. The next batter, Pedrina, beat out a single to deep short that scored the tying run in Recolan.

"He was one of the seniors and he really played well that game, just hustling down the line to extend the inning," Pico said of Okinaka. "He was our ninth batter, too. Yeah, he extended that inning and then we got a base hit to score that runner from third to tie the game. Brannon played well and then in that 11th inning he just made all of that happen, too. I mean, to score that winning run on that wild play."

Okinaka had a little bit of encouragement from his coach in the 11th. Pico told ScoringLive reporter Stacy Kaneshiro after the game that he gave Okinaka the order to steal, feeling that even if Okinaka was caught, he still had Pedrina — the Sabers' lead-off batter — to start the next inning. It was the first time that Pico gave Okinaka the steal sign that season.

"You gotta be aggressive," Pico recalled of the situation. "We're the home team, we can be aggressive. I'm not sure if he had the steal sign or green light, but it's kind of synonymous for us."

Looking over the box score eight years after the fact, Pico can't recall every exact detail of the game — which lifted Campbell to 5-0 in the OIA Red West and dropped Pearl City to 2-3 — but he can certainly draw several conclusions.

"Pearl City had 13 hits throughout the game and we had three errors so that's already 16 baserunners at least, not counting walks and stuff, so to hold them to that amount of runs, plays had to have been made, but I cannot recall," Pico said. "I'm sure there was some big double plays, I'm sure we threw out some runners."

Milan started on the mound for the Chargers and scattered six hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 8 2/3 innings. He and Tokunaga, who threw two innings in relief and ended up being the losing pitcher, held the Sabers to eight total hits, but Pearl City committed four errors of its own, which led to two of Campbell's runs being unearned.

"I think we struggled at the plate, but Milan was on. We were undefeated going in, we were scoring some runs, but Milan really exposed some stuff to us," Pico said. "When you're winning it's hard to motivate and address and identify the need-areas because the win kind of overshadows everything, but in tough wins you can really reflect and work on things you need to work on, so I think that was an eye-opening experience for the boys because yeah, we're undefeated, but we're not playing well and I think from then on it kind of boosted us, it kind of pumped us up.

Campbell starting pitcher Jasten Smeigh struck out a pair and walked one over his six innings of work. He allowed eight hits, but just one unearned run and did not factor into the final decision.

"He was our ace, he was our man," Pico said of the senior right-hander. "The younger guys would fill in, they were still getting their feet whet at the varsity level coming up from JV, but he was our horse basically. If the game was on the line, he was the guy that I wanted to be there."

Smeigh was making his third start of the season and second in as many games for the Sabers (although they did have a bye just before the Pearl City game). In his previous start, Smeigh tossed six innings of three-hit ball and got the win in a victory over Kapolei.

Pico said that it wasn't customary for his coaching staff to go with the same starter back-to-back.

"We don't normally do that, so there must have been a reason for it. As a coaching staff we kind of go into a season with a first-round plan and a second-round plan and we kind of anticipate how many innings we want certain pitchers to throw," he explained.

"I didn't like starting the same guy against the same team in the second round, so we look at different aspects when we make decisions, not just whose turn it is. We look at the matchup, how they're performing at practice, if someone is tender, even so far as where we're playing — whether it's home or away — we might take into consideration, the weather, if it's raining, because some pitchers cannot throw in rain and some can throw in a hurricane, so it all gets taken into consideration," Pico said.

Kila Kapihe threw two scoreless innings in relief of Smiegh, then gave way to another sophomore in Kahaloa, who pitched the final three innings and got the win. Pico noted that a key factor in the development of the pitching staff that season was sophomore catcher Tryzen Patricio.

"That was his first year as our starting catcher and his development over that season behind the plate was huge for us. For him to be a sophomore catching all these guys that are good pitchers and him being able to handle them, handle our pitching staff, was huge. We wouldn't have been as successful if his development didn't progress as quickly as it did that season," Pico detailed.

Patricio and Pedrina were the lone Sabers to pair hits that afternoon against the Chargers, who dropped three straight games (at Waipahu, vs. Mililani, at Campbell) after lopsided wins over Kapolei and Leilehua to open the 2013 regular season.

"Pearl City is always a good team," Pico said of the Chargers, who won a Division I state championship two seasons prior in 2011. "A lot of the players they still had were on that team that won the state championship. Pearl City always hits well against us, but I think we did what we had to do and any time you can limit Pearl City to two runs, to me that's success on the mound and even though we made three errors, it was a successful day. In a high school game, if you hold the other team to two runs, you should win."

Pico's team went on to win its first 11 games of the season — capped off by a 5-0 win at Pearl City in the second-round meeting on Apr. 10 — before dropping its OIA Red West finale against Mililani by a score of 6-2 on Apr. 13 at Hans L'Orange Park.

The loss to the Trojans was just what Campbell needed as it prepared for a playoff run.

"It did motivate us and showed us that we're not invincible and we still have to come out and play well," said Pico, whose team had already locked up the Red West's top seed and a first-round bye in the 12-team OIA tournament.

The Sabers punched their ticket to the state tournament with a 3-1 win over Kaiser in the OIA quarterfinals. The next day they posted a 3-0 semifinal victory over Kailua to set-up a rematch with Mililani in the championship game. This time around, however, Pico's squad won in a rout, 13-3. The game was called in the bottom of the sixth inning due to the mercy rule.

"Any time you lose to someone and you get a chance to face them again, it gives you added motivation. I think we ended up 10-run ruling them, so obviously we were motivated that year, but Mililani was tough that year — they ended up in the state championship game — so they had a very good team. That loss to them very much motivated us throughout the playoffs," Pico said.

The OIA title was the third in program history and the first for Campbell since Pico's senior season of high school in 1995.

"That was the first OIA championship as a coach, so it was special," he said.

It proved to be just the first of three consecutive league championships for the Sabers under Pico.

"That was the start of the run, but that group really laid the foundation and set the standards and expectations for the teams coming up after that," he explained.

Pico said the team's shortcomings in 2012 fueled their championship run a year later.

"I think with the work they put in during the offseason and motivation they drew from not achieving their goals from last year was huge. I think their motivation was the biggest thing, being unable to meet their goals the previous year showed them that this is what we have to do and if we do these things we can be successful," Pico said. "And then from then on it just kept rolling over and rolling over."

Campbell reached the semifinals of the state tournament that 2013 season, but lost, 2-1, to eventual-champion Mid-Pacific. The following year the Sabers once again made it to the final four, but once again were denied, 3-1, by the eventual-winner in Saint Louis.

But the breakthrough came in 2015, when Campbell edged Mid-Pacific by a score of 3-2 in eight innings to capture its first state championship since 1978 and just the second in school history.

Pico stepped down from coaching in 2018 after 15 seasons at the helm of his alma mater. He compiled a 158-75 record and is the winningest baseball coach at Campbell.

Pico was an all-state baseball player for the Sabers before continuing his playing career at the University of Hawaii-Manoa. He was officially hired as the school's athletic director in October of 2018.

ScoringLive reporter Stacy Kaneshiro contributed to this report.