Baldwin Completes Perfect MIL Baseball Run

By Fred Guzman

Living up to its No. 3 ranking in the state poll, Baldwin nailed down another MIL baseball championship in lopsided fashion at Iron Maehara Stadium on Saturday night.

The Bears completed a perfect run through the league casmpaign by routing error-prone Kamehameha-Maui 10-0 in six innings in the title game of the MIL tournament.

The win improved Baldwin’s record to 14-0 against MIL compeitition and earn the Bears the league’s seeded berth in the Division-I state tournament that begins a week from Wednesday at Les Murakami Stadium on the University of Hawaii campus.

Freshman left-hander Noah Apolo went the distance for Baldwin, allowing three early hits and retiring the last 12 batters he faced.

Baldwin advanced to the state D-I title game last year and was soundly defeated by Punahou. The seven-time defending champs didn’t make it out of the powerful ILH this season. Baldwin, however, is back.

Kamehameha-Maui also qualified as for the 12-team field in D-I, while Molokai High is the MIL’s only representative in the D-II tournament at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu. Molokai secured its berth by beating Seabury Hall 10-2 on Friday for the overall title. .

The Bears appear to be in line for the second seed at the state tournament after previously No. 2-ranked Kailua was beaten by Pearl City in Friday’s semifinals of the OIA playoffs. Moanalua then beat Pearl City 4-3 in Saturday’s championship game.

Kailua beat Mililani 5-1 for third and Leilehua defeated Roosevelt 10-5 for fifth.

Radford rallied to a 7-6 win over Waipahu for the OIA D-II title.

Top-ranked Saint Louis School clinched the ILH title, with Mid-Pacific claiming the league’s second berth.

GOLF: Baldwin senior Cassy Isagawa eased to a third straight MIL girls’ individual title on Saturday at the Royal Kaanapali Golf Course, firing a 71 for a five-round total of 360 to win the title by 18 strokes over runner-up Marissa Uradomo, her Baldwin teammate. Isagawa is the defending state champion.

Kamehameha-Maui junior Aaron Kunitomo won the boy’s title with a scored of 353, beating out defending champion Alex Chiarella by four strokes.

VOLLEYBALL: Baldwin clinched the MIL D-I regular-season volleyball crown with a 25-14, 25-18, 25-21 home sweep of Lahainaluna on Saturday. The Bears clinched a berth in the state tournament and the top seed in the MIL tournamen that begins on Wednesday. Seabury Hall, the defending state champion in its division, is the top seed in D-II league tournament.

TENNIS: The MIL championships were held over the weekend at the Wailea Tennis Club.

In the boy’s division, Kento Tanaka-Tamaki of St. Anthony won individual honors with a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Jhun Gumboc of Maui High. The Seabury tandem of Arta Shirkhodai and Conner Snow beat Lahainaluna’s Stephen Adolfson and Jackson Britt 7-6, 7-5 for the doubles title.

In the girls’ division, Kalai Yip of Lahainaluna defeated St. Anthony’s Alicia Ballesteros 6-4, 6-4 in the singles. The doubles final was an all-Baldwin affair as Michele Saiki and Kelly Hamamura beat Rachel Pascual and Taylor Duarte 7-5, 6-1.

WATER POLO: That Lahainaluna won another MIL water polo is hardly surprising given that the Lunas have won 50 straight within the league. But this victory featured a unique twist as the Baldwin coach Steve Zitnik pulled his team out of the pool at the Kihei Aquatic Center with his team trailing 2-0 after the first period. The game officially ended as a forfeit. Both teams qualified for the state tournament, scheduled for May 4-7 on the Big Island.

SOFTBALL: Hana posted a pair of victories over previously unbeaten Molokai to take the MIL D-II softball crown on Lanai. Hana took the MIL tournament title with a 13-8 victory and followed that up with a 14-4 win for the overall championship game. Both teams qualified for the state D-II tournament, which begins May 3 on Oahu. Earlier, Lahainaluna ended Baldwin’s seven-year reign as D-I champion by taking the overall crown with a 7-0 win at Patsy Mink Field on the Maui High campus. Both teams also qualified for the state tournament.