By Wes Nakama
Bringing an abrupt end to a long and arduous ILH baseball season, Kamehameha pounced on ‘Iolani, 9-3, Tuesday afternoon at Moanalua to win its third straight league championship.
Cade Wehrsig went 2-for-4 with the go-ahead three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning and four pitchers combined on a six-hitter to help the Warriors improve to 15-2 and earn the ILH’s top seed and first-round bye in next week’s Wally Yonamine Foundation State Championships at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku, Maui. ‘Iolani (11-9-1) and Saint Louis (11-6) will be the league’s other representatives and will start play in Wednesday’s first round.
After surviving an ultra-competitive regular season mostly unscathed at 12-2, Kamehameha went 3-0 in the ILH Double-Elimination Tournament, including a narrow 3-2 victory over Maryknoll after the Spartans had stunned Saint Louis and ‘Iolani the previous two days.
Tuesday’s title-clinching game was actually a continuation of a game that was suspended by rain on Monday afternoon at Central O’ahu Regional Park, where ‘Iolani had led, 2-1, in the bottom of the second inning when the field was declared unplayable.
“We got back on the hill (at Kamehameha’s campus) around 5:30 p.m., so we got some swings in,” said Wehrsig, a senior. “Everyone took it as a productive day, nobody takes a day off. I really like that about our team.”
The Raiders actually took a 3-2 lead on Judah Ota’s solo home run in the top of the third inning, but the Warriors tied it at 3-3 on Dillon Andres’ double in the bottom of the fourth, and then went up, 6-3, on Wehrsig’s towering three-run homer that landed on top of the batting cage just beyond the right field fence. It was Wehrsig’s first home run of the season.
“He’s strong, he hit some balls earlier this season that would have been way outta here, so for that particular moment, he came up huge for us,” Kamehameha coach Daryl Kitagawa said. “I’m happy for Cade, he deserves the accolades, especially today, all that propelled our team moving forward.”
In the meantime, pitchers Kupono Barkdull, Kaikea Patoc-Young and Pono Kong held the Raiders in check the rest of the way in relief of Monday starter Kainoa Kaneshiro.
“Hat’s off to Kamehameha, congratulations to them,” ‘Iolani coach Kurt Miyahira said. “They earned it.”
Photos: Lori McKeown
