Castle Forges Ahead With Eyes On State Tourney

Wednesday - July 04, 2007
By Jack Danilewicz
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Castle High baseball coach Joe Tom takes a moment from the game to talk with his team. Photo by Nathalie Walker
Castle High baseball coach Joe Tom takes a moment from
the game to talk with his team. Photo by Nathalie Walker,
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One win doesn’t make a season, as the old saying goes, but Castle’s 3-2 win over Kamehameha last week in American Legion League play came pretty close. If anything, the resolve the Knights displayed in that encounter should bode well for the future.

“It was a special win in many ways,” said Castle coach Joe Tom, whose team overcame a 2-0 deficit. “In fact, I couldn’t sleep that night. But it was a good not being able to sleep. It was a great team effort - it took a lot of character for the kids to pull it out.

“I’m just really proud of them,” he continued. “A lot of them are working and they’re tired, but they’re playing very hard.”


Castle took a 9-7 American Legion League record into last Friday night’s game with Waianae and concludes its regular season on Wednesday when the Knights host Pearl City at 4:30 p.m. Castle’s post-season hopes are weighing in the balance as the top 8 of the American Legion League’s 20 teams make the state tournament. A year ago, Castle advanced all the way to the championship before losing to a veteran Kalani team.

The Knights’ 2007 summer season has been marked by close encounters. Indeed, balance has been the order of the day in the American Legion League.

“Everyone has a few tough games left,” Tom said. “The experience they get (in American Legion League) is a big thing,” he added.“Player-development wise, it has been very positive because we’ll have a lot of spots to fill next spring. A 19-game season is longer than our regular season, and you get to play a lot of quality teams. You have to put in the work to get better for next year.”

Pitching has carried Tom’s team to date. Royce Diaz (Castle ‘07) and Kapono Chang (Kamehameha ‘07) both combined on a no-hitter in the Knights’ aforementioned win over Kamehameha, while teammate Josh Serrano took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of Castle’s recent 4-2 loss to Waipahu.

Diaz “mowed them down,” against Kamehameha, Tom said. “He had good velocity, and then he started throwing curves for strikes. We also made some great plays (in the field of that game).”

“The pitching has been a real bright spot,” he added.“They’ve all progressed well. Josh and Kapono and Pulama (Silva) and Bryan (Raines) have pitched really well, and Royce has been rounding back into shape. He’s really pitched well the last couple of games. We just need to be a little more consistent in this stretch run.”


Offensively, Tom is looking for an increase in his team’s output.

“We need to pick it up with (regard to) our clutch hitting because we’ve left quite a few runners on base,” he said.

Short stop Kainoa Tom leads the Knights in hitting, with a batting average of .434, with Raines and Coby Agres also among the team’s offensive leaders. The American Legion League’s post-season will take place from July 18-23. The winner of Hawaii’s state tournament will earn a berth in the Western Regionals in Albuquerque next month.

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