HondaReport.com - Baseball: 'Aiea overhwhelms Roosevelt for OIA title

Roosevelt's run came to a halt in the OIA championship game Saturday afternoon. Aiea overwhelmed the Rough Riders, 10-0, to win the league crown. Below is the extended version of the game story that ran in Sunday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

MILILANI—After nine wins in a row, Roosevelt’s carriage turned into a pumpkin.

Consensus favorite Aiea pounded 12 hits and ace Blake Lamug hurled a three-hitter as Na Alii blanked Roosevelt, 10-0, yesterday afternoon for the Oahu Interscholastic Association championship. A pensive crowd of about 300 watched at sunny Mililani High School field.

“I was getting ahead and hitting my spots,” said Lamug, a four-year letterman. “This was my best game. It feels great, especially after last year.”

Aiea lost to Kailua in last year’s OIA title game.

This time around, Aiea left no doubt, ending the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Aiea (12-1) earned a bye in the opening round of the Wally Yonamine State Baseball Championships, which begins May 18 at Les Murakami Stadium.

“I still think we’ve got room for improvement,” Aiea coach Ryan Kato said. “But I think they believe now. If you’d seen where these kids had come from, you wouldn’t believe it. They did a lot of soul-searching. This feels good, especially after last year.”

Kailua defeated Aiea last year for the OIA title. “We’ve been on a mission since that day,” Kato said.

“That’s a hot Aiea team. They’re powerful,” Roosevelt coach Kerry Higa said.

Roosevelt, the ultimate underdog, will enter the state tourney with a 10-4 record. The Rough Riders began the season 1-3 before roaring into the playoffs, where they won three games in three days for the right to play for the league title.

“This is one of the closer teams we’ve had. They didn’t get down. We picked up momentum, game after game,” Higa said. “They stuck together and played with a lot of heart.”

Aiea had not met Roosevelt all season, but expected a battle.

“That’s a scrappy ballclub. My hat goes off to them,” Kato said. “Their starter (Justin Goo) threw on Wednesday and Friday, and today. That’s guts right there. He leaves it on the field. We were fortunate to get pitches we could handle.”

Lamug fanned five Rough Riders and walked none. “Before the game, he said, ‘Don’t worry about it, coach,’” Kato said. “He knows how to win with or without his best stuff.”

Fortunately, for Aiea, Lamug was pinpoint accurate, spotting his splitter and curve without major resistance. “He kept us off-balance. We had a few hits, but we couldn’t bunch them together,” Higa said. “He was very crafty. He had a real mastery of his pitches. He had us guessing, pretty much.”

Dylan Libadisos and Kepa Wong, the No. 3 and No. 4 hitters in the lineup, helped power Na Alii. Libadisos went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and a run scored. Wong went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored.

In addition, the lower third of the Aiea lineup went 5-for-9 with three RBIs.

“I feel good for the guys. They deserve every bit of this because of how hard they worked,” Kato said. “It’s not about just hitting. It’s about executing. Getting runners in position to score. Getting big hits.”

An early-season loss served as a timely wake-up call for Aiea. “It took a lot of brain-washing for them to realize it’s a team sport,” Kato added. “Making the sacrifice bunt. Stealing bases. Hitting the fly ball to score.”

Libadisos agreed. “It was very important. With the good teams, one pitcher can shut you down. That’s why doing all the little things make the difference,” he said.

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Yesterday, Na Alii played flawless baseball. Aiea scored one run in the first, two in the second, and four in a bizarre fourth frame.

Leadoff hitter Aaron Asher led off the first with a single to left, and later came in to score on Libadisos’ sacrifice fly to left.

Goo settled down, getting two quick outs. That’s when the lower third of Aiea’s lineup stepped up. Jordan Shibata, who went 2-for-2, drilled a triple to center field. After C.J. Tausaga walked, No. 9 hitter Aaron Sato stroked a double to left, bringing home Shibata and Tausaga for a 3-0 Aiea lead.

The wobbling wheels of Roosevelt’s carriage began to fall off in the bottom of the third. Libadisos and Wong singled to start the inning. Libadisos, running on the pitch to Wong, slid into third safely. Wong made it to second on the play.

Then, two odd pop-ups followed. Lance Powell lifted a high pop behind third base, but the wind blowing out caused problems. The ball twirled back toward the infield, catching Roosevelt shortstop Jonathan Alarcio out of position, and landed for a base hit. Libadisos scored, and Aiea led 4-0.

The next batter, Bryson Tajiri, hit a similar pop-up to the right side. Right fielder Ricky Eusebio struggled to track the ball, and it fell behind first base near the line for another single. Wong scored on the play, giving Aiea a 5-0 lead. .

A moment later, Powell and Tajiri took off on a double steal, and catcher Kevin Fujii’s throw got past third baseman Grant Hayami and went down the left-field line. Powell scored on the play, boosting Aiea’s lead to 6-0.

Goo, who had pitched the previous two days, was relieved by David Aquino.

Shibata stepped back into the box and drilled a single to center, bringing Tajiri home with Aiea’s seventh run.

With Roosevelt’s third pitcher, Kalani Yoshimura, on the mound, Na Alii added a single run in the fourth. Wong tripled to center, scoring Libadisos, who had reached base after being hit by a pitch.

Yoshimura, who struck out four and walked none in 3 and 1-3 innings, helped the Rough Riders stabilize. At one point, he fanned three Na Alii in a row.

However, Aiea struck again in the fifth. After a pinch-hit single to Mark Alejo and a walk by Blaze Moleta, Libadisos ripped a single to right, scoring Alejo. An error in right field on the same play allowed Moleta to score, ending the game due to the 10-run rule.

The Rough Riders, like the rest of the OIA’s state qualifiers, get 10 days off. “A lot of our guys took this loss bad, but there’s nothing to hang their heads about,” Higa said. “I’m glad we got the week off. This championship atmosphere gave them some experience, and now they know what to expect against the caliber of teams like Aiea. We were a little tight.”

Should Roosevelt and Aiea meet again in the state tournament, Kato expects a whole new game. “This game has nothing to do with what happens in the future,” he said.

Libadisos isn’t about to celebrate. “Not yet. We have one more tournament. This is a stepping stone to states,” he said. “We have to stay focused. I’m feeling very confident. Having that bye will help us. We’ve got three starting pitchers.

“Blake always comes through when we need him to. He’s calm and collected,” Libadisos said. “He knows what to do.”

Indeed, Lamug knew what he’d do after the game. “I’m going to tell my son, Brandon, that we won,” he said of his 2-year-old.