Mililani's Kale Ho (14), Zen Staszkow (24), and Randyn Rios (16) celebrate after defending the OIA title to complete the three-peat (2018 and 2019) and fourth title overall in school history. CJ Caraang | SL

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WAIPAHU - The last time Mililani won an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I baseball title, Kai Hirayama was in the sixth grade dreaming that someday he'd become a Trojan.

The freshman left-handed pitcher not only saw his dream materialize, but pitched the Trojans to their third consecutive league title - albeit not in successive years - in a thrilling 5-4 win against Western Division rival Pearl City Saturday night at Hans L'Orange Park.

The Trojans (11-2), eighth in the Hawaiian Electric Scoring Live Power Rankings, have secured one of the four seeded berths given to league champions in the Wally Yonamine Foundation state tournament May 4-7 on Maui. The No. 10 Chargers (10-3), third place Kalani (12-3), fourth place Kailua (9-6) and fifth place Moanalua (10-6) also earned state berths.

It was Mililani's fourth overall crown, but first since 2019. There were no OIA tournaments in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19. The 2020 season was canceled, while in 2021, the OIA played exhibition games.

Hirayama (3-1), who pitched 6 2/3 innings during the regular season and no more than two innings in an outing, tossed six innings of five-hit ball, allowing four runs (two earned) with no walks and tied a season high with five strikeouts. 

B.J. Tokushima's two out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth snapped a 4-all game and Jaden Miranda came in from center field to pitch a scoreless seventh for the save.

For the Trojans, it began on the mound with Hirayama.

"It's not a matter of freshman, sophomore, junior or senior," Trojans' coach Mark Hirayama (no relation) said of his decision to start the freshman in the title game. "I was looking for the guy who could go out and compete for me. His pedigree is he's not fazed by the moment. We didn't expect him to give us six (innings pitched) and stay in the ball game. I told him before the game, don't save anything, just go out and give us the best pitch every pitch, take us as long as you can and we'll go find somebody after that. He found his groove and was able to keep them off-balanced a little bit…We made some miscues, but it didn't faze him. He came back and kept his composure. That's huge."

Kai Hirayama displayed that composure when adversity struck the Trojans' defense, which committed a double error that led to two runs in the second inning that gave Pearl City a 2-1 lead, and a third error permitted another unearned run in the fifth that tied the game at 4. In that second inning, he faced runners at second and third with one out, but retired the next two Chargers on harmless ground outs to minimize the potential damage.

"It felt great," Kai Hirayama said the opportunity to pitch in the title game. "I wanted it."

Coach Hirayama said he noticed the freshman's grit during the JV season, which is in the winter. "He's just a gritty young guy who likes to compete," the coach said. "He definitely earned the right to be on the mound tonight."

The younger Hirayama got tremendous help from his senior catcher, Tokushima. Besides driving in the go-ahead run, he called most of the pitches.

"He's a great young man," coach Hirayama said of Tokushima. "I'm going to miss him when he graduates, just from his leadership, his work ethic. He puts his heart on the line for the program and his teammates. He's going to be hard to replace."

The Trojans struck against Pearl City starting pitcher Dacoda Agoto in the bottom of the first inning. The left-handed hitting Zen Staszkow sliced a double to left, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Ethan Murakoshi's ground single up the middle.

The Chargers took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second. Logan Honma singled and scored on third baseman Brayden Suehisa's errant throw on a sacrifice by Jayson Au Hoy; Au Hoy also scored when right fielder Zech Takahashi fielded the errant throw by Suehisa and made an errant throw back to the infield.

But that lead was short lived as the Trojans tied it in the bottom second on Staszkow's RBI single with two out.

The Chargers took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Au Hoy reached on an infield single, took second on a hit-and-run ground out to the pitcher, stole third and scored on Eli Oshiro's sacrifice fly to center.

Again, another short-lived lead for the Chargers as the Trojans scored twice in the bottom of the fourth. Hayashi, who came in relief of Agoto in the second inning, made errors on consecutive bunts by Tanner Aoki and Miranda to put runners at the second and third with no out. Kaleb Pongasi followed with a two-run single to give Mililani a 4-3 lead.

But the Chargers tied the game in the fifth when Ethan Higashionna reached on third baseman Brayden Suehisa's throwing error and two outs later scored on Agoto triple to left.

In the bottom of the sixth, Staszkow led off with a walk, took second on Murakoshi's sacrifice and an out later, scored on Tokushima's single to the right-center alley, just out of the reach of center fielder Eliaz Duropan's grasp.

"Coach always tell us you want to be the guy in that situation," said Murakoshi, who swung at Hayashi's first offering. "I was thinking, first ball I get a chance to hit, I'm going to hit it."

Miranda was summoned to close out the game in the top of the seventh. After retiring the first two batters, he walked Tyson Murakami before striking out Hayashi to end the game and set off the celebration.