Hurricanes Hoping For A Playoff Spot
By Jack Danilewicz
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Kapolei’s Jon Santiago pitches against Waianae, which
won,18-4. Photo by Byron Lee, staff photographer.
The last seven days have seen the Kapolei High baseball team play a season within the season, but the playoff-type mind-set of late can only benefit the Hurricanes in the future.
So says Hurricanes coach Tom Ibanez.
His Hurricanes were one of four teams in contention for the final Red-West Division berth for the upcoming Oahu Interscholastic Association playoffs, heading into the weekend. Kapolei was to meet Campbell in a game on Saturday before closing out its regular season at home against Pearl City on Wednesday. Also vying for the final spot were Radford and Waipahu.
With 14 underclassmen on its current team, the Hurricanes could easily fall into the category of a team a year or two away, but Ibanez would like to see Kapolei do some damage in this post-season - assuming they earn a berth.
“It would mean a lot in a lot of ways,“said Ibanez, who led Kapolei to the post-season in 2003.“We’re trying to merge more with the Little League and Pony Leagues so we can keep the players in the community (at Kapolei). It would be big for the school and the community if we could get in. Obviously, (last) Saturday’s game with Campbell is big for both teams. The winner of that game will have the edge on the tie-breaker.”
Wednesday’s match-up with Pearl City could figure equally big. The Chargers took a 6-2 mark into the weekend and won a memorable game versus the Hurricanes in 2005.
“You have to play seven innings against them,” Ibanez said of Pearl City. “We had a 4-0 lead against them, and they ended up winning in the last inning. They’re a team you can’t make mistakes against. They have a good coaching staff and good kids, so when you beat them, you know you’ve accomplished something.”
Five teams each from the OIA West and Eastern Divisions make the OIA Tournament, which begins next week. The top five finishers qualify for the Wally Yonamine State Baseball Tournament, which is set for May 17-20 at Les Murakami Stadium on the University of Hawaii campus.
While Ibanez will have most of his team for the next two seasons, a trio - junior shortstop Aaron Santiago, senior outfielder Marc Paparelli and junior catcher Michael Kahalehoe - of veterans have led the way in 2006 and are hoping to extend their high school careers with a post-season run. Kahalehoe is hitting a team-best .571 (and a slugging percentage of .786), while Paparelli is the team’s leader in doubles (five) in addition to hitting .533. Santiago is a three-year starter and is hitting .524.
“Aaron is our hitting leader, and he’s our captain on the field when it comes to defense,” Ibanez said. “Marc plays multiple positions - we rely a lot on him. He takes command, and he’s a good field general, while Michael is one of our more vocal leaders. Those three have stood out so far.”
In large part because of their varsity inexperience, the young Hurricanes have been an unpredictable group to date, Ibanez said.
“Every game, we wonder which team will show up,” he said. “When we do show up, we can play with anybody. It’s a matter of being focused and ready every pitch of every game. Being young, a lot of things we stress they don’t understand yet. Consistency is the key. We still have our mental let-downs. Lately, we’ve been hitting the ball pretty good, but we’ve made mistakes at critical times. There have been other games where the defense has been good, but we didn’t hit. If we put those two together, we can be a really good team.”
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