Marauders Living Up To Expectations In Bid For DII Title
By Jack Danilewicz
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With a steady eye on the post-season, longtime Waipahu head baseball coach Milton Takenaka has been as interested in his team’s effort as in the outcome of their games lately.
The Marauders received a better-than-passing grade on both counts.
“We’ve had energy every day - we’ve been good in that sense,” said Takenaka, whose team took an 8-0 record into its season finale with Radford over the weekend. “The kids aren’t letting up, and they’ve been focused.”
Waipahu opened its season as one of the favorites to win a second consecutive OIA Division II title, and the Marauders have looked up to the task throughout their season to date, winning most games in dominant fashion.
Indeed, the only thing missing from their resume is the riveting close encounters that hone a team for the playoffs. They won their first eight games by an average score of 13-1, although those runaway wins bolstered their depth, to hear Takenaka tell it, with under-classmen logging key innings.
“(The schedule) gave us an opportunity, as did the preseason, to use a lot of the younger kids,” he said. “We have a close-knit team.”
As it looks ahead to next week’s OIA Tournament and the DII state tournament, which will follow in ensuing weeks, veterans will be key to Waipahu’s fate. In senior pitchers Kaimi Haina and Triton Gante, the team will have two of the top pitchers in the state. Both were key components last year when the team went 12-2-2 overall.
Pairings for the OIA Tournament, which will take place next week at various sites, were to be finalized on Saturday. Waipahu was hoping to secure the top seed out of the West, which would automatically propel it into a semifinal game and leave it only two wins away from an OIA title.
“The first-round bye is big,” said Takenaka.“To only have to play two games, we would only have to use two or three pitchers.”
Waipahu had used five different pitchers through its first eight games (two were forfeits), with Gante being perhaps the most consistent. Haina was the OIA Player of the Year in 2008, having gone 3-0 on the mound with an earned run average of 0.52 to go with 34 strike-outs against only five walks. But an injury and a trip to the Mainland slowed his progression this season, according to his coach.
“Triton isn’t doing anything better this year than last, but his overall maturity has done him some good,” he added of Gante. “He’s mixing up his pitches a lot better.”
The Marauders also are counting on both players to help lead the way at the plate as well as fellow veterans Sam Chee and Aldrin Padilla, both of whom were All-Conference selections in 2008. Waipahu should be able to keep the scores down this post-season with its veteran pitching and steady defense.
“We’ve kind of been working more on offensive stuff lately,” Takenaka said. “We’ve spent more time in the cage and on our batting practice. Offensively, I don’t think we’ve hit our peak yet. Hopefully, that is going to come around.”
The top three teams from the OIA make the Division II State Tournament, which will run May 7-10 at both Central Oahu Regional Park and Les Murakami Stadium.
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