Knights Hang Tough Despite Adversity In Maui Baseball Tourney

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Castle’s Kyle Kanaeholo scored
the game-winner in the Wally
Yonamine state baseball
tournament. Photo by Nathalie
Walker, staff photographer.

The recent Wally Yonamine state baseball tournament may have been won by Punahou, but the Castle Knights were the clear-cut winner in the area of meeting adversity head-on.

Indeed, the Knights hadn’t even taken the field for their first-round game when the emotional roller coaster that would consume them for the next five days began.

“The kids showed a lot of character,” Castle coach Joe Tom said. “I told the kids,‘this will be the most memorable baseball tournament of your life.‘They’ll never forget this because of the extraordinary circumstances involved.”

Just minutes before their game with Maui High School on May 17, Castle assistant coach Brent Taniguchi had collapsed on the field and suffered a heart attack and was soon transferred to Maui Memorial Medical Center. The following day, Taniguchi was flown to Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. He was considered out of danger late last week, and was expected to return home.

“I saw him yesterday, and he was in good spirits,” Tom said last Thursday. “Emergency personnel (on Maui) there did a fantastic job. We’re all thankful. The kids dedicated the game to him.”

Playing with heavy hearts, the Knights were nevertheless the “feel good"story of the state tournament, eventually taking fourth place for their best finish at states since taking third in 1996. It was only a week earlier that Castle had to win the Oahu Interscholastic Association post-season’s “play-in” game (over Leilehua) to earn the league’s fifth and final bid for the state tournament. Heavy rains on Maui wiped out Castle’s game with Maui, which had been scheduled for Wednesday, forcing them to play two games on Thursday. The foul weather was oddly reminiscent of a period during March and April when the weather wreaked havoc for the Knights and the rest of Oahu’s prep baseball teams.

With concern for Taniguchi much on their minds, the Knights were able to post a pair of shut-outs that Thursday. First, they rode Royce Diaz’ no-hitter to a 1-0 victory over Maui High School and then came back that evening to upset OIA champion Aiea 2-0 in the quarter-finals.

Eventual state champion Punahou defeated Castle 5-2 in the semifinals, and the Knights followed that encounter by dropping a 7-5 decision to Waiakea to close out tournament play. But Tom’s club had already made its mark on the tournament long beforehand.

Including the OIA Tournament, Castle won five of its eight post-season games.

“A lot of guys came through - everyone of them contributed,” Tom said.“The team matured and focused a lot better (in the playoffs). We’d battled through a lot during the season, played in a lot of close games. The ability was always there - they just had to step it up, and they did. They dug deeper, had great attitudes, showed great hustle and played as a team.”

Diaz’s no-hitter stood up as the top individual performance of the tournament, but he received plenty of support in the form of “two phenomenal plays"by its stellar shortstop Brandon Kon, according to Tom.“He showed great anticipation to snag a line drive on the one play, and we also got a couple of tough plays from Dallas Olsen as well,” Tom said.

“Royce had good focus,” he added of Diaz’s no-hitter. “He worked well at hitting his spots and pitched one inning at a time. It was just a great effort by him.”

In the Maui game, the Knights also received a huge boost from Kyle Kanaeholo, who stretched a mere base hit into a double with alert base running, eventually scoring the game-winner.

“Sheer hustle, determination and a heads-up play (by Kaneholo) won that game,” Tom said.

The state tournament will serve as a springboard into summer play for the Knights. Many members of the Castle team will compete in the American Legion League.

“We’re taking a little time off now, but soon we’ll get right back into it,” said Tom, whose team finished 11-7 in 2006.“We’re looking forward to the summer as well as next season.”