Marauders To ‘Host’ DII State Baseball Tourney This Week

Wednesday - May 06, 2009
By Jack Danilewicz
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Waipahu third baseman Sam Chee dives for the ball. Photo by Nathalie Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

In terms of sheer geography, this week’s Division II State Baseball Tournament was seemingly made for Waipahu.

With the early rounds of the tournament only minutes away at Hans L’Orange Park, the Marauders are the next best thing to a host school.

“The kids are excited about playing at L’Orange,” coach Milton Takenaka said. “It’s more like a home game even though we don’t get to play there much.”

Best known for hosting Hawaii Winter Baseball, the park also is known as a superb venue under the lights. (The DII title game will be played at Les Murakami Stadium in Manoa).

Pairings for the state tournament, which runs Wednesday through Saturday, were to be released late Sunday. For their part, the Marauders have already guaranteed themselves a first-round bye by capturing the OIA Division II title.

“I think because they didn’t fare too well last year, they’ve set the goal of having a much better state tournament this time,“said Takenaka, whose team was eliminated by back-to-back losses to Kalaheo and Maryknoll last time. “Because we were there last year, they’ve been focused on getting back - especially the three seniors.”


 

Depth on the mound has traditionally played a huge role in the tournament. As expected, pitching has carried Waipahu behind veterans Tryton Gante and Kaimi Haina, both having been starters since their freshman year.

Haina was the 2008 OIA Player of the Year, having gone 3-0 on the mound with an earned run average of 0.52 to go with 34 strikeouts against only five walks.An injury and a trip to the Mainland slowed his progression this season, his coach said,but he has returned to form and earned the win in Waipahu’s 9-2 victory over Radford May 24 in the OIA title game.

Gante drove in the game-tying run in a riveting 4-3 win over Radford last April 28 in the OIA Division II title game and has had a productive 2009 season in the field and at the plate.

Who Takenaka decides to go with as the starter in Thursday’s quarter-final game will depend on whom the Marauders draw as an opponent.

With a week off between the post-season and the state tourney, Waipahu upped its time in the batting cage as well as in live hitting in an effort to bolster its offense.


“I don’t think that we hit our peak during the year, so we’re hitting a little bit more,” Takenaka said.

The Marauders were paced in the OIA title game by Sam Chee’s three hits, while Ignatius Mackenzie (two hits, two RBI), Ed Agag and Cheyne Estanique combined to drive in six of the team’s nine runs.

Throughout the preseason and regular season, freshman Drake Yoshioka has been the most consistent at the plate, batting .660 to date.

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