Campbell Baseball: Trying For Consistent Playing Season
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usThe Oahu Interscholastic Association’s playoffs may still be a month away, but in a sense, the Campbell baseball team is already in post-season mode.
After leading the Sabers to the OIA playoffs each of his first two seasons, coach Rory Pico and his team were looking to gain some ground late last week when they took a 0-3 regular-season record into the weekend. Six teams from the OIA West will qualify for the post-season next month, so the Sabers figure to have a built-in sense of urgency for the rest of the season.
“Our future looks bright,” said Pico, who played for Campbell in the mid ‘90s. “Even though we haven’t been winning,if we continue to progress, we have a chance to get in. We have to continue working hard and getting better. In our losses to Mililani and Aiea, the team really battled. I give them credit for that.”
“Right now, we’re really young and inexperienced,” he added. “Only three of our kids have played a lot of varsity baseball, so we have a lot of inexperience on the field. We’re very inconsistent. Sometimes we pitch well,sometimes we field well, and sometimes we hit well, but we haven’t had all facets of our game working at the same time yet, and that’s the goal.”
Wednesday’s game at Waialua (4 p.m.) looms large in the Saber schedule with both teams wanting to stay in the playoff hunt. Pico was unsure who would be starting pitcher in that game, as Campbell was also to play a make-up game Monday against Leilehua.
“We go by feel a lot,” Pico said of selecting his pitcher. The Sabers will likely go with one of three pitchers against Waialua: senior Channon Coloma, or juniors Blayne Dikito or Sebastian Locquiao.
Coloma, a left-handed pitcher who also plays in the outfield, was away from the school’s program a year ago, but has been regaining his old form lately.
“He’s having one of the best years of anyone here,“Pico said.“He’s wasn’t a starter during the pre-season, but he’s worked his way back in.He’s had some key hits, and he’ll be a key player for us later on.”
A pair of veterans - shortstop Ramsey Sakamoto and catcher/pitcher/shortstop Kendall Hodson - have been much of the team leadership early on. Hodson is a four-year varsity player.
“He picks up the other players,” Pico said.“He brings energy to our team, he’s our spark plug, and he’s a solid catcher. He receives the ball well, he probably has the best arm on the team, and he handles our pitching staff real well. Ramsey (Sakamoto) bats in the lead-off spot. He’s one of our biggest offensive threats. He can run, and he can hit for average.”
Fellow seniors Jon Scholl and Zach Sistoza have also been impact players this year and should figure big down the stretch.Its lineup aside, however, eliminating self-inflicted wounds remained a high priority heading into the weekend, Pico admitted.
“We have to play with more consistency in all aspects of our play because we’ve made mistakes in all facets of the game. We battled against Mililani and Aiea, but we didn’t play well against Pearl City. We’re hoping it was just a bad day. Being consistent is a mental thing, and we’re slowly getting better. I think it will come with experience.”
Offensively, the Sabers are averaging just over three runs a game through their first three games, although they have played three of the league’s better teams.
“We’re not the type of team that’s going to score seven or eight runs just hitting the ball.We’ve had times where we can’t buy a hit or get on base. We have to manufacture runs ; we have to put the ball in play, hit it hard and low, and play some “small ball.”
With most of his team returning in 2007, Pico likes the direction his program is heading. “We have a very talented team. A lot of them have played in the community, so I’ve watched these boys grow up,” he said of the underclassmen.
“I see a lot of potential. Getting them to play up to their potential is what we’re working on.”
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