Monday Morning MIL: Seabury Hall baseball wins first championship since 2012; MIL D-I baseball championship game Tuesday

Bryson Tasaki was 4 years old when Seabury Hall won its first Maui Interscholastic League Division II baseball title in 2012. On Saturday, when the Spartans added their second MIL pennant with a 7-2 win over Molokaʻi in the Central Pacific Bank overall championship game at Maehara Stadium, Tasaki stood at the forefront as the team’s unquestioned leader.

The rivalry between the Spartans and Farmers has been dominated by the Friendly Isle for more than a decade. Molokaʻi owns all 10 of the MIL D-II titles since the lone Seabury Hall title 13 years ago (the 2020 and 2021 seasons were wiped out by COVID-19).

The Spartans have just two seniors, Tasaki and Colin Rosenthal, and Tasaki is the only starter who will leave the team after it plays in the Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA state tournament May 8-10 on Oʻahu. When head coach Joe McFarlin was asked for a team representative, he didn’t hesitate to tap Tasaki.

“It’s really nice, it’s my senior year, last game in the MIL ever, and just to be able to get it done, I’m very happy,” Tasaki said. 

Tasaki smiled widely and said it meant “everything” to top the mighty Farmers.

“Every year after the last loss, we’re sitting down after the game, crying,” Tasaki said. “And it’s just that feeling after losing to Molokaʻi that drives us each and every year to come back and put in the work to be our best team, be the best versions of ourselves.”

The Spartans scored all seven of their runs on just two hits in the second inning Saturday, propelled by four walks, a wild pitch, a hit batter and two errors. Junior Murray Brown V (5 innings) and Asher Halik (2 innings) combined on the mound to limit the Farmers to just two hits in the championship game.

“Obviously Molokaʻi, they’ve had a really good run for the past few years, so it’s really nice to not only just win, but win against them, it feels extra special,” Tasaki said.

Tasaki was the starting pitcher in the MIL tournament championship game on Friday night that ended in a dramatic 4-3 Spartans’ win when a Farmers’ runner was called out trying to steal home. Tasaki was credited with the win after going six innings, striking out eight, walking seven, and allowing just three hits.

Because Molokaʻi finished the regular season with the best record but Seabury won the tournament, the two teams competed for the overall championship on Saturday.

McFarlin also put Tasaki on the mound in the 2022 MIL tournament championship game as a freshman in the first year back from COVID.

The Spartans lost that night, but McFarlin said Sunday: “That was done with a purpose, put the freshman on the mound under the lights. We knew that would pay dividends and Friday night it did.”

In addition to the two seniors, the Spartans’ 15-player roster includes nine juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen.

“The main basis of this group is the brotherhood that Coach P talked about,” said McFarlin, a 2003 Seabury Hall graduate who has been the head coach since 2016 when he took over for veteran coach John Plunkett. “They’ve been together since November. We’ve done off-island trips for baseball. To see them come together as a team and then culminating in the championship, that’s what it’s all about. They’ve been working their butts off since last year’s loss, basically.”

Plunkett, who started the program in 1994, also pulled on a Seabury Hall uniform for the final time on Maui on Saturday.

“The energy, the drive, the work ethic to play baseball, same thing,” the soft-spoken Plunkett said when asked to compare the two Seabury Hall title teams. “Words cannot express, but the one thing that we do teach these guys, as any team would say: ‘You’re brothers for life. The family is extended.’” 

Plunkett then peered at McFarlin and said, “I am just so humbly honored and proud to be able to coach still yet with this young man.”

Molokaʻi will play the runner-up from the Big Island Interscholastic Federation at 11 a.m. Friday at Pearl City High School for the final spot in the eight-team state tournament.

The Farmers will say goodbye to seven seniors after their season ends.

“The heart we have, we are battling different obstacles than most teams, coming from that island — the travel, the limited resources of everything, it’s just harder,” Molokaʻi head coach Milton Loo said.

He pointed out that the team also lost nine seniors last year and had to figure out the roles for several first-timers.

“So, it’s been a challenge for us, but these boys never say die,” Loo said. “We have that mentality and that’s what we’ve been doing every game.”  

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MIL Division I baseball: Baldwin wins tournament, forces Tuesday championship game

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After both teams advanced with dramatic 1-0 wins in the MIL Division I baseball tournament semifinals, Baldwin defeated Kamehameha Maui 6-4 in the tournament championship game Saturday afternoon.

The result forces an overall championship game between the same two teams at 5 p.m. on Tuesday at Maehara Stadium. The Warriors won the regular season title, while the Bears are the tournament champs.

Baldwin trailed 4-1 through five innings before scoring four in the top of the sixth to take the lead. Kyne Fujioka sent a 1-2 pitch to shallow right field for a single to score two runs, giving the Bears a 5-4 lead.

The winner Tuesday with be the MIL champion — Baldwin won 12 MIL pennants in a row from 2010-23 before Maui High won the crown last year. Kamehameha Maui won its only MIL baseball title in 2009.

Both teams have qualified for the Wally Yonamine/HHSAA state tournament set for Maehara Stadium May 7-10. Tuesday’s winner will receive a first-round bye as a top-four seed.

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MIL girls water polo: Baldwin finishes 11-0 to claim third straight championship

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Jade Brown scored four goals to lead Baldwin High School to a 9-4 win over Kamehameha Maui in the Central Pacific Bank tournament championship game on Saturday at Kīhei Aquatic Center.

Brown, a junior, finished the season with a league-high 39 goals for the season. Baldwin finished an 11-0 run through the MIL with the victory in the tournament championship game.

The final game was tied 1-1 after one quarter before Brown scored twice in the second quarter as the Bears took a 4-1 lead at halftime. Baldwin pushed the lead to 8-1 through three quarters to cruise to the win.

The Bears advance to the quarterfinals of the Kyoya Hotels/HHSAA state tournament May 8-10 at Kamehameha Kapālama on Oʻahu. 

Kamehameha Maui is the MIL runner-up and will host a first-round state game at a time to be determined. After Lahainaluna was forced to forfeit the rest of its season due to lack of available players, King Kekaulike moved into the third-place slot for the MIL and will play the third-place team from the Interscholastic League of Honolulu team in a match set for 4 p.m. Friday at Kīhei Aquatic Center for the final spot to the state tournament.

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MIL Division II boys volleyball: Seabury Hall secures title in 5-set match

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The Seabury Hall boys volleyball team finished a 7-2 run through the MIL Division II ranks, claiming the league title with a 25-27, 25-13, 25-18, 17-25, 15-7 win over Molokaʻi in the league tournament final in Hoʻolehua Friday night.

The Spartans will play in the New City Nissan/HHSAA D-II state tournament May 8-10 on Oʻahu.

Moloka’i had won the last two MIL Division II boys volleyball titles.

“Monday Morning MIL” columns appear weekly on Monday mornings with updates on local sports in the Maui Interscholastic League and elsewhere around Maui County. Please send column ideas — anything having to do with sports in Maui County — as well as results and photos to rob@hjinow.org.