ILH Baseball
Iolani rallies past Punahou with big 7th inning to lock up spot in states


  



Sat, Apr 23, 2022 @ [ 10:00 am ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Iolani 0 010006790
Punahou 1 2 00100471

W: Izack Takazawa    L: Cade Terada-Herzer    SV: Trent Ihle

PUN: Nolan Souza 2-3 2 runs rbi; Cade Terada-Herzer 6.0 IP 4 ER 4 K
IOL: Cadence Ueyama 2-2 2 runs rbi trp; Izack Takazawa 4.6 IP 1 ER 2 K


ALA WAI — Iolani ain't done yet. 

The Raiders used some late-game heroics Saturday to keep their season alive with a stunning come-from-behind 7-4 win over No. 3 Punahou at Ala Wai Community Park. 

Since a 12-4 loss to Mid-Pacific to open the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's double-elimination tournament back on Apr. 14, Iolani has won four consecutive elimination games. 

The unranked Raiders (8-11) posted wins over No. 7 Maryknoll and No. 1 Saint Louis on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Their victory over the fifth-ranked Buffanblu (10-7-1) Saturday propelled them into Monday's tournament final against fourth-ranked Kamehameha and kept their once-slim hopes of an ILH championship within reach. 

"I'm just proud of the kids, that's all. I'm proud of them for believing in each other," said seventh-year coach Kurt Miyahira, whose team secured its second trip to the state tournament in his tenure with Saturday's win — its third in as many tries against Punahou this season. 

The last time Iolani appeared in states (2018), it reached the semifinal round but lost to eventual-champion Baldwin and finished third. For all but one of the two dozen players on the current roster, they will be playing in their first state tournament when the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Division I State Championships takes place, May 4 to 7 at Maui's Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku. 

"It feels great. I mean, it feels amazing," said Iolani junior pitcher Izack Takazawa. 

"Just for the seniors, for everyone, for our coaches — all of them — I mean, it just feels amazing because earlier it wasn't going our way, but we just stayed the route, stayed the plan, trusted in each other, trusted in our coaches and hard work is all," he added. 

The season has been a tumultuous one for the Raiders, to be sure. They dropped their first four ILH games, then won their next three, only to lose four in a row.

Iolani lost six of their final seven games in the first round of the ILH schedule and was seeded sixth (out of seven teams) in the second round. 

"We've been working hard all year and I think it's finally starting to come together and paying off and I think all these guys just deserve it because we've been grinding all year and it just hasn't been going our way, but we just gotta keep going at it and I think it's starting to finally pay off and everyone's contributing; it was a team win tonight," said Takazawa, who had a big part in it himself. 

Takazawa threw 4 2/3 innings of three-hit ball in relief of starting pitcher Tyler Young. He entered the game with one out in the bottom of the second inning and a pair of Buffanblu baserunners in scoring position. 

"I just wanted to fill up the zone and trust my defense. They've helped me out multiple times this season and that's all I can do; I'm not trying to do too much, just fill up the zone and throw strikes," Takazawa said. 

He allowed one run on three hits with two strikeouts and a walk and was ultimately, the pitcher of record after his teammates rallied with six runs in the top of the seventh inning. 

"I just wanted to throw strikes, give our guys a chance and that's been the whole game plan this year is just fill the zone up, throw a lot of strikes, trust in our defense, trust in our guys because that's all I have is — we talk about each other and we're a family here — and I have complete confidence in everyone behind me," Takazawa said of his longest outing this season. 

Punahou starter Cade Terada-Herzer held the Raiders to a single run through six innings. He had set down the last five batters he faced before he ran into trouble in the final frame. 

Terada-Herzer put Jonah Velasco on with a walk to lead off the top of the seventh. He was then lifted for left-handed reliever Landon Chun, who gave up a single to the only batter that he faced: pinch hitter Cole Ide. Terada-Herzer then re-entered the game, but allowed back-to-back singles to Cole Yonamine, another pinch hitter, and a run-scoring hit by Cadence Ueyama. 

That brought Terada-Herzer's day to an end. Stryker Scales took the ball, but his first pitch to Travis Ujimori was well outside and went all the way to the backstop, which allowed Ide to score from third and consequently cut the Buffanblu lead to 4-3. 

Ujimori was then intentionally walked to load the bases for freshman Bruin Agbayani, who came through with a single that got through the right side of the infield and allowed both the tying and go-ahead runs to score in Yonamine and Ueyama, respectively. 

"Bruin's a good player. He's gonna around this league for a while, he's a really good player; Him and Mana (Lau Kong), they're gonna be around this league for a while," Miyahira said of the pair of ninth-graders.

Agbayani played third base and batted second in the lineup Saturday, while Lau Kong, manned left field and was right behind Agbayani in the lineup in the three-hole. 

"I think they're gonna do good things around here," Miyahira said. 

After Scales was replaced by Kila Kaniho — the fourth different Punahou pitcher of the inning — Lau Kong promptly provided an insurance run with his RBI-single back up the middle that plated Ujimori and gave Iolani a 6-4 lead. 

Agbayani advanced to second on the Lau Kong hit. He moved over to third on Makani Tanaka's sacrifice bunt and eventually scored on a passed ball. 

Miyahira said it was important that his batters stayed within themselves during the high-pressure situations at the plate. 

"We locked in a little bit and just shortened up and tried to compete and didn't try and get too big and just tried to get the next guy up," he said. 

Kaniho struck out Cole Young for the second out, then got Isaac Ahokovi to fly out for the third to stop the bleeding. 

Takazawa gave way to Trent Ihle, who gave up a single to pinch hitter Cooper Hickey to start off the bottom of the seventh inning. Ihle got leadoff batter Nolan Souza to strike out for the first out. He then hit Cole Kashimoto with a pitch to put two runners aboard and bring the tying run to the plate — with the Buffanblu's No. 3 and 4 hitters due up, no less. However, Ihle struck out Kaikea Harrison for the second out and got Joey Wilson to pop up to end the game. 

"They kept us there," Miyahira said of the trio of pitchers he used Saturday. "I mean, they did their job and kept us in there."

Miyahira praised the performance of Takazawa, who has two wins and a save in his last three appearances, but was also keen to point out the contributions of senior Zacary Tenn, the only player remaining on the team from that 2018 squad that finished third at the state tournament that spring. 

Tenn, the Raiders' ace pitcher and a University of Washington-signee, was in the midst of a stellar senior but last pitched in a game in late March. 

"Izack's been huge for us. I can't say enough about Zac Tenn and how he's relished a different role and done a great job of molding these young men," Miyahira said. "I can't be happier for Izack, but Zac has been huge and I'm also proud of a guy like Jarin Ching, who's injured but has also been a big positive contributor to the team."

Miyahira tipped his cap to the Buffanblu, who were three outs away from punching their ticket to states only to see their season come to an abrupt end. 

"Hats off to Punahou, that's a good team. Keenan (Sue) and his staff do a great job," he said. "They got really good players and I'm gonna miss seeing some of them play and I'm gonna miss watching our kids compete against them, but it's an honor to play in this league and bottom line, I'm just proud of our kids for the way they battled."

Iolani will play Kamehameha (12-4-1) for the ILH second round title, 6 p.m. Monday at Hans L'Orange Park in Waipahu. 

Because the Warriors have yet to drop a game in the double-elimination tournament, the Raiders must win Monday to force a rematch Wednesday, which would take place at Patsy T. Mink/Central Oahu Regional Park. First pitch for that game, if necessary, would be at 3:30 p.m. 

The winner of the second round will face first-round winner Saint Louis (13-3-1), which has already secured a state tournament berth, for the overall ILH championship Friday, 3:30 p.m. at CORP. 



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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