Waialae of Oahu captured the 77th Annual State AJA Baseball Championship at Iron Maehara Stadium in Maui during the first weekend in April 2012. Waialae has won 3 consecutive State AJA Championships, equaling the record set by the powerhouse Waipahu teams of the 1950s and the Moiliili teams of the 1930s. Each island was represented by their league champion, supplemented by all stars. Hawaii was represented by the Keaukaha Warriors, Kauai by the Kalaheo Homesteaders, Maui by Daimyo and Oahu by Waialae. Led by Most Outstanding Player (MOP) Chad Itokazu, who won his 2nd State AJA MOP Award and Most RBI Award Winner AD Mols, Waialae edged out Maui 3 to 2 in the Championship game with a dramatic 9th inning comeback.
CONGRATULATIONS to the Oahu State AJA Tournament Team (Waialae & 5 added players from the League) and Managers Karl & Kenny for winning the State AJA Championship. Oahu defeated the Big Island 10 to 4 on Saturday, then edged out Maui 3 to 2 with a dramatic 9th inning comeback in an exciting emotional heart pounding game.
Trailing 2 to 1 in the top of the 9th inning, Chad Itokazu worked a walk to start the inning. Kevin Higa executed a sacrifice bunt moving Itokazu to 2nd. Mark Okano grounded back to the pitcher for the 2nd out. Pinch hitter Danny Kimura was intentionally walked with Ryan Murakami inserted to pinch run. With 2 strikes, AD Mols drove a base hit up the middle past a diving shortstop to score Itokazu with the tying run with a slide at home plate. Murakami stopped at 2nd. Chris Mols then bounced an infield single chopper off the pitcher’s glove to load the bases. Brandon Kon played the hero as he drove the game winning line drive base hit past a diving 1st baseman to score Murakami with the winning run as AD Mols got thrown out at home for the 3rd out.
Davin Morita started and pitched 4 innings of 2 hit ball, giving up 2 runs with 3 Ks, 2 bb, 1hbp while stranding 2 runners. Jayson Kramer got the win in relief, pitching 4 shutout innings with 1 hit 1 bb while stranding 1 runner. Sean Yamashita got the save for the 2nd straight year closing out the 9th inning with 1 inning of shutout ball, striking out 1, giving up one walk but stranding the runner. Kalaika Kahoohalahala pitched outstanding for Maui, holding Oahu to 3 hits in 7 1/3 innings while striking out 4 and walking 3. Jason Miyahira relieved Kahoohalahala in the 8th and took the loss. Oahu only totaled 6 hits (3 in the 9th) with no player pairing hits. Maui only totaled 3 hits with Ian Shimabuku homering (solo) in the 3rd inning.
On Saturday, in the afternoon game, Randy Castillo pitched a gutty 7 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, striking out 2 while walking 6. Josh Nakamura & Jayson Kramer pitched the 8th & 9th innings to finish the game. Hilo’s Courtney Arruda pitched a complete game. Kiley Kawazoe & Bryce Onaga paired hits for Hilo. Chad Itokazu & AD Mols each had 3 hits while Davin Morita & Jason Takamoto chipped in with 2 hits apiece. Chris Mols had 3 rbi, while AD Mols & Mike Higa had 2 rbi each. Oahu scored 5 runs in the 1st inning and led 7 to 0 going into the 4th inning. In the 5th inning, Hilo scored 4 runs and had the bases loaded with 1 out but stranded them all. Oahu broke the game open in the 7th inning as DH Danny Kimura hit a line drive one bounce off the left field fence double with the bases loaded to drive in 2 runs.
Maui defeated Kauai in the Saturday morning game 12 to 9 after falling behind 8 to 2. Maui banged out 15 hits and Kauai 13 in the 3 hour slugfest. A controversial play at home plate allowed Maui to score a run and keep the inning going and turned the game’s momentum around in Maui’s favor. The runner, on a bang-bang play at home plate, knocked the ball out of the catcher’s glove without a collision by running through the tag and not sliding at home plate. But while avoiding the tag, the runner slid after home plate. Kauai appealed the play, citing the must-slide-at-home plate rule and protested, which would have been the first protest being brought before the protest committee in recent memory. However, the umpire said the runner did slide, thus the must-slide-at-home plate rule was not applicable and no protest was possible.
Chad Itokazu won the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player Award, batting 4 for 7 with 1 rbi, 4 runs scored including 2 runs in the Championship game, 2 bb, 1 sb. It was his 2nd State AJA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Award, having won it earlier in 2010.
AD Mols got the Tournament’s Most RBI Award (3) breaking a 4 way tie based on the highest batting average. Maui’s Van Delos Santos won the Tournament’s Batting Title going 3 for 5 with 4 bb and 2 rbi.