A wild and wacky ILH Division I baseball season will only get crazier starting Friday night as the postseason tournament gets underway at Ala Wai Field.
Fifth-seeded ‘Iolani (3-9) takes on fourth-seeded Punahou (4-8) in the first game at 6 p.m. at Ala Wai Field. The Buffanblu outscored the Raiders 15-4 in two wins to start the season but ‘Iolani came back to defeat Punahou 12-7 in five innings on Tuesday in the regular-season finale. The Raiders played without senior third baseman Pikai Winchester, who has missed the last two games with a PCL sprain suffered against Saint Louis eight days ago.
The winner of that game will play at top-seeded Mid-Pacific at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Owls (9-3) have already locked up a berth in the state tournament for the sixth consecutive year and have won the league’s seeded berth in each of the last three seasons, including in 2013, when they won it all.
MPI hasn’t allowed a run to Punahou in 20 innings, outscoring the Buffanblu 21-0. The offense has carried the Owls in three wins against the Raiders, outscoring ‘Iolani 40-24.
The other game on Saturday features seconded-seeded Kamehameha (8-5) and third-seeded Saint Louis (7-6) playing for the fourth time this year and second time in four days. Kamehameha won a second-place tiebreaker on Wednesday at Goeas Field, 7-5, in a game that was called in the sixth inning due to darkness.
The Warriors were happy not to see Saint Louis senior right-hander Pono Anderson on the mound in that game. Anderson had pitched in the other three games against Kamehameha this year and is 3-0 with an 0.53 ERA in 17 innings.
ILH BASEBALL TOURNAMENT
Friday, April 17
No. 5 ‘Iolani (3-9) vs. No. 4 Punahou (4-8), 6 p.m., Ala Wai Field
Saturday, April 18
No. 2 Kamehameha (8-5) vs. No. 3 Saint Louis (7-6), 3 p.m., Ala Wai Field
‘Iolani/Punahou winner at No. 1 Mid-Pacific (9-3), 3:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 21
Stl/Kam winner vs. MPI/PunORIol winner, 4:30 p.m., ‘Iolani
Iol/Pun loser vs. StL/Kam loser, 4:30 p.m., Mid-Pacific
Friday, April 24
Backdoor game, 4:30 p.m., Ala Wai Field
Saturday, April 25
Backdoor game at Ala Wai Field
Tuesday, April 28
First final, TBA
Friday, May 1
Second final, if nec.
Saturday, May 2
MPI vs. tournament winner, if nec.
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