Knights’ Sense Of Urgency Inspires Players In Playoff Bid

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Castle High School player Corey Paredes swings against
Kalani last Wednesday at Kahala Field. Kalani won the game
5-1. Photo by Byron Lee, staff photographer.

As his team prepared for its Oahu Interscholastic Association first-round playoff game at Mililani (4 p.m.) on Tuesday, Knights baseball coach Joe Tom was as interested in his team’s own mind-set as a scouting report on the Trojans.

“You have to be mentally tough (to succeed in the post-season) - good teams make their breaks,“said Tom.“You have to have a lot of confidence. You can’t press; you have to perform.”

Like the other seven teams hoping to move on from Tuesday’s first-round OIA playoff games, the Knights figure to have a built-in sense of urgency this week. Should the Knights get past Mililani and win their second-round game Wednesday,they would clinch a state tournament berth. But Tom wasn’t looking past Tuesday’s game with Mililani, which was 7-3 this year in the West.

“Four people will be going home, so winning that first game is so important,“he said.“We’re focused only on Tuesday.”

Castle (6-4) closed out its regular season last Wednesday with a 5-1 loss to Kalani and enters tournament play as the fifth seed from the East. If anything, loss to the Falcons neatly summarized Castle’s challenges for this week. The Knights were plagued by three errors on the defensive side and produced only one tally from six hits at the plate in that game. With that in mind, offensive execution remains a high priority for the Knights if they are to advance this week, according to Tom.

“We’re a little frustrated that we haven’t been hitting the ball as well as we’re capable of. We need to be a little more selective; we’ve lost a little focus at the plate. We have to challenge on every at-bat. We haven’t been striking out much, but we’ve hit a lot of pop-ups. We have to hit good line drives.”

The Knights’ team batting average is just under .400 as they enter the post-season. In their loss to Kalani last week,Castle’s six hits were all singles.

“It (team average) was up there for awhile,” said Tom, whose team scored a combined 26 runs in its first three games in the East this season, “but it’s come down now.”

Defensively, Castle boasts two of the better infielders in the East in shortstop Kyle Kanaeholo and second baseman Brandon Kon.

“We’ve been good up the middle,” Tom said.“Kyle and Brandon have been steady.“Pitching-wise, we have to cut down on our walks - we’ve given up too many free passes the last couple of games.We have to concentrate and hit our spots.”

Tom will likely go with junior right-hander Royce Diaz to start Tuesday’s game at Mililani.

“We’ll see who is producing, but he’s the tentative starter. He throws firm. He’s been clocked in the low to mid-80s, and he has a good curve ball. He’s thrown well for the most part.”

A change in the format for the tournament will see the teams take a day off on Friday, with the OIA title game set for Saturday. In past years, teams not receiving an open-round bye played four games in as many days. As in past years, Tom sees a balanced tournament again with several teams vying for the championship. Kailua has won five of the last six titles.

“A number of teams could win it,” said Tom, who coached Castle to the 1996 OIA title.“Moanalua has been through some squeakers, a credit to them to be able to win the close games. Kailua looks pretty tough, and the West teams are good, too. On any given day anyone can beat anybody. Hopefully, we can put it all together.”