By Wes Nakama
WAIPI’O — Neither cold nor rain nor Saint Louis’ dangerous batting lineup could shake Kamehameha’s Greyson Osbun on Thursday night at Patsy T. Mink Central O’ahu Regional Park, as the junior right-hander tossed a sparkling one-hitter to help the Warriors shut out Saint Louis, 2-0, in a key ILH baseball shown.
A statewide TV audience on Spectrum OC16 watched Osbun ride a no-hitter until two outs in the top of the seventh inning as Kamehameha improved to 10-4, good for a three-way tie for first place with ‘Iolani and Mid-Pacific. The Crusaders fell to 9-4, a half-game back.
Kaili Kane’s ground single to right broke up the no-no, but Osbun struck out the last batter looking to complete the gem. Osbun struck out seven against only one walk and one hit-by-pitch.
“Unbelievable, but he’s been like that for two years so we expect that from him,” said Warriors coach Daryl Kitagawa. “He did what he’s supposed to do. It was tough, nothing’s easy in our league, especially against Saint Louis. They’ve been a powerhouse program in our league for a reason.”
The Crusaders countered with junior right-hander Shannon Fee, who scattered seven hits over six innings with eight strikeouts, two walks and one HBP. Both of Kamehameha’s runs were unearned.
It was a scoreless duel until one out in the bottom of the fifth, when Kaulana Quinlan was hit by a pitch and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw to first that rolled far into foul territory. Jayden Montero followed with a single to right, scoring Quinlan, then stole second and third. The throw to try to catch Montero went into left field, allowing him to score and make it 2-0.
“We’re not tearing the cover off the ball, so we try to run and manufacture runs as best we can,” Kitagawa said. “That’s what we try to do.”
That was more than enough for Osbun, who retired 12 batters in order until Kane broke up the no-hitter with two outs in the seventh.
Saint Louis momentarily took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third, after Kahanu Martinez drew a one-out walk, stole second, advanced to third on a balk and slid across the plate on Tanner Chun’s sacrifice fly to center. But the Warriors threw to third base on appeal, the umpire called Martinez out for leaving the bag early and the run was wiped off the board.
Center fielder Jace Souza had fired a one-hop strike to home plate after the sac fly, but the ball was dropped before making the tag. Osbun said he believes Souza’s arm strength is what prompted Martinez to leave early.
“I think if he left on time, and (the catcher) fields that ball cleanly, he’s definitely out,” Osbun said. “Having Jace out there, with that arm, I think it’s going to cause plays like that with guys trying to rush to get off the bag.”
After that play, Osbun did not allow another base runner for the next three and two-thirds innings.
“Just attack guys, go out there with a lot of confidence … create weak contact,” Osbun said of his approach. “And just continue to attack as the game goes on. I thought my fastball was really good today, especially later on when I started getting into a groove.”
Osbun, who improved to 4-0 this season and lowered his earned run average to 1.52, said Thursday’s victory had special importance.
“It’s huge, biggest game of the year so far, I think,” Osbun said. “Especially against Saint Louis, where they’re going to bring all their energy and hit the ball well. They’re a tough team to beat, we’ve kind of split the series with them over the last few years, so just being able to take care of this and cause some chaos at the top … it’s huge.”
Montero went 2 for 3 with the RBI single and Dillon Andres also went 2 for 3.
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