Pearl City Baseball Caps Off Regular Season Friday
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usPearl City High’s preseason camp seems a long time ago - at least in mind-set - for coach Gary Nakamoto.
After all, back in February an untested pitching staff loomed as his biggest concern. With his team on the verge of wrapping up the Oahu Interscholastic Association’s Western Conference regular-season crown late last week, however, those concerns have understandably faded.
“I was skeptical of our pitching with only one healthy starter back, but there’s been a big turnaround,” he said.“Our seniors - Cory (Yuh) and Bryson (Nakamura) - have really come around, and our sophomores have come around, too. I’m happy with them no matter what happens the rest of the season. Pitching is a plus for us right now.”
The top six teams from both the East and West make the OIA playoffs with the top five to come out of the tournament earning the league’s five slots for the upcoming Wally Yonamine Foundation state baseball championships next month.
The Chargers took a three-game lead in the West into their game with Aiea last Friday and close out their regular-season slate this Friday against Mililani. Barring an unlikely collapse, Pearl City, which was 8-1 through its first nine league encounters,figured to be the top seed from the West for the OIA playoffs. More importantly, a top seed means a first-round bye, which should be a big advantage to a team’s pitching staff, in Nakamoto’s view.
“You can save one of your pitchers with a first-round bye,” said Nakamoto, whose team had given up just two runs in its previous three outings heading into the weekend. “And the other teams (who must play first-round games) can’t save one because if you lose, you go home.”
A first-round bye also means the Chargers would need to win three games instead of four to secure a second consecutive OIA title.
Nakamoto, who is in his first year as head coach, was more concerned with his team’s final regular-season games, which were to include an encounter against Campbell on Tuesday, in between the aforementioned games with Aiea and Mililani. “It will be good for us to have three tough games to finish heading into the playoffs,” he said. “If all goes well, we’ll be able to get some of our non-starters some playing time.”
To date, the Chargers have gone with both Yuh and Nakamura as their starters on the mound, although Nakamoto expects sophomores Kahana Neal and Chace Numata and junior Micah Nakasone to see their roles possibly expand in the postseason. Neal picked up the win versus Waianae last week, while Nakamoto was hoping to start Nakasone against Campbell on Tuesday.
Defensively, the team has been steady behind the play of shortstop Ryno Acosta, center fielder Duane Kiyota, junior catcher Carlton Tanabe and third baseman Bryson Namba. Offensively, the Chargers are striving for consistency at the plate, according to Nakamoto.
“We’ve been playing good ball, generating a lot of runs for the number of hits we’ve been getting,” he said.“We’ve had some up-and-down games. Now, we’re waiting for everyone to hit (at the same time).”
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