Trojans, Farmers reach baseball semis

By Fred Guzman
MauiNow.com

The MIL again has a pair of teams in the state Division-II baseball semifinals, with St. Anthony and Molokai each posting decisive victories yesterday at Hans L’Orange Field.

St. Anthony’s Jarret Stinger tossed a three-hitter and the Trojans capitalized on Konawaena’s four errors for a 6-0 quarterfinal victory, setting up a 7 o’clock date tonight with Maryknoll in the semis.

Maryknoll advanced by defeating third-seeded Waipahu 6-5 in eight innings.  The second-seeded Trojans will be looking to reach the title game for a second straight season, having lost a heartbreaker to Kauai High in last year’s final.

Kauai is back as the top seed and will against be trying to eliminate Molokai in the semis when the two teams tangle at 4:30.  Both teams advanced with lopsided victories.  Kauai routed Honokaa 11-0 while the Farmers handled fourth-seeded Hawaii Prep 11-5.

Both of the semifinal games will be carried live on Maui’s ESPN 550 as will a pair of earlier consolation games involving MIL teams in the D-I portion of the tournament.

Maui High, which sustained a 3-2, 11-inning loss to Kailua in the opening round, meets Mililani in an 8:30 a.m. game at Les Murakami Stadium.

At 11 a.m., Kamehameha-Maui will try to bounce back from yesterday’s 3-1 quarterfinal loss to Kamehameha-Kapalama.  The Maui team will face top-seeded Pearl City, which suffered a 3-1 loss to five-time defending champ Punahou in yesterday’s semis.

WATER POLO:  Third-seeded Lahainaluna suffered an 11-4 loss to Kamehameha-Kapalama in the quarterfinals of the state tournament at Central Oahu Regional Park.  The Lunas were relegated to the consolation bracket, where they will meet Kamehameha-Hawaii at 4:30.  Kahuku routed Kamehameha-Maui bounced back from a 12-5, first-round loss to Kahuku by posting a 6-5 win over Leilehua and will play in Saturday’s seventh-place match.

TENNIS:  All of the MIL’s tennis hopes are centered on Jackie Owens, who is the only local athlete to advance to today’s quarterfinals of the state tournament being held at CORP.  Owens is a four-time MIL singles champion who has twice reached the FF and was last year’s state runnerup.

Owens is seeking to become the first MIL player to capture the singles crown since Baldwin’s Kari Luna took top honors in 1994.  The top seed belongs to Kristin Lim of Punahou.  Her school has won the last six team titles.