Iolani's Kainoa Fong throws a ball to first. Evan Asato | SL

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Iolani's Christian Donahue rounds third and makes his way to score a run for the Raiders. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Aaron Fong flips a ball to first base. Evan Asato | SL

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Iolani's Christian Donahue dives into home plate. Evan Asato | SL

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WAIPIO -- Christian Donahue drove a bases-loaded triple to left field to break open a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the sixth that lifted the Raiders past the Buffanblu, 8-5 in the play-in game for the Interscholastic League of Honolulu postseason tournament at Patsy T. Mink Central O’ahu Regional Park on a rainy Friday afternoon.

“This season, it hasn’t gone the way we expected it to or wanted it to, coming down to it we had a great week of practice and prepared really hard for this, this was well-deserved,” said Donahue.

‘Iolani, the fourth seed in the ILH tournament, improves to 9-7 on the season and will play the tournament’s top seed Saint Louis (12-3) tomorrow at 11:30 am at CORP while Punahou’s season ends at 3-12-1. Kamehameha-Kapalama who defeated Pac-Five on the other field, 13-5, advances to play at Mid-Pacific.

“It’s burns, it’s tough because of that and the work that was put in and the league is tough. Our guys battle and one thing we preach is never give in and never give up and they didn’t do that today. ‘Iolani did a great job and they have a good team and they’re a team to be reckoned with in this tournament so I wish them the best of luck,” said Punahou coach Kenny Harrison.

Donahue batted 3 for 4 including a double, two triples, two runs and 5 RBIs. He hit the double RBI in the bottom of the third and had two RBI triples in the bottom of the fifth and sixth respectively. Caleb Duhay went 2 for 3 and an RBI and Pikai Winchester went 1 for 2 and a RBI. Joshua Inouye went the distance and pitched all seven innings and struck out five batters and allowed two runs.

“Today was a day where I was seeing the ball well and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my teammates, getting on base, Josh (Inouye) pitching an excellent game. I couldn’t have done it without them,” said Donahue.

Facing two outs, Donahue hit a triple to left field to score Matt Campos, Max Look and Austin Jim On to put the Raiders up, 7-4 and broke a 4-all tie. On the next at-bat, Pikai Winchester was hit by a pitch and Caleb Duhay brought Donahue home with an RBI single to right field to make it 8-4.

“This at-bat I had the most butterflies I’ve ever had before. I went up there looking for a fastball and I was just looking for my pitch and tried to hit it hard and it was there and I put my best swing on it and the rest is history,” said Donahue, on the triple RBI.

“That was huge,” said ‘Iolani coach Brent Shimokawa, on the hit. “I’m happy for him (Donahue), he’s been having a tough year and he’s been hitting a lot of balls at people. He had situations where he came up and wasn’t successful even though he did his best, this is big, it’s to get into the playoffs and we finally came through with two or three hits.”

The Buffanblu tried to mount a rally in the top of the seventh after Takamoto got on base off of a Donahue error, but was tagged out at second on a fielder’s choice. Cole Kanazawa was hit by a pitch and Harrison drove in Fong for a run on a single to left field to make it, 8-5. However, Branton and Combs grounded out to end the game.

The Raiders scored eight runs on 12 hits and committed numerous fielding errors. Donahue accounted for two errors, but put it behind him and found a way to lift the team when they needed it most.

‘Iolani jumped out early and scored in the bottom of the first after Duhay reached on an error by third baseman Easton Takamoto that brought in Look.

The Buffanblu tied the game at 1 after an error by Corey Nakakura that scored Jantzen Tamanaha, who came in as a courtesy runner for pitcher Josh Winkler.

In the bottom of the third, Kainoa Fong got on first after he hit a single past the short stop, then moved to second on Look’s sacrifice bunt. Jim On grounded out to second and Fong moved to third. Donahue hit an RBI double to centerfield to bring in Fong. Winchester also hit a RBI single to centerfield to score Donahue to make it, 3-1.

“Our boys can bang the ball. Like anything I tell them they can put the ball in play, it’s the main thing. Some days you’re going to hit it at people and some days it’s going to fall in. Today a lot fell in, but defensively is where we need to tighten up,” said Shimokawa.

Punahou made it 3-2 after KJ Harrison scored off of Bo Coolen’s sacrifice in the top of the fourth.

In the bottom of the fifth, Jim On reached first on a error by Aaron Fong then stole second. Donahue hit an RBI triple deep to centerfield to score Jim On to make it, 4-2, but was tagged out at home plate on the throw. Josh Winkler came in for Punahou to relieve Coolen.

In the top of the sixth, Harrison singled to shallow right field to start it off. Beau Branton hit a double to centerfield and Harrison moved to third. Dylan Combs struck out and Harrison scored off of Coolen’s sacrifice fly to centerfield. Winkler got on first after a dropped third strike, but Corey Nakakura could not handle the throw from catcher Easton Tsubata and that brought in Branton for the tying run.

“I’m proud of the kids, they battled hard and they worked and I’m proud of them. They stuck in there and we worked hard and to battle here today, it’s tough,” said Harrison.

“It happen, there’s no sense to dwell of that. We need to come back to the present, stay focused on the task at hand and all we need to do is move on and if you dwell on it, it’s going to affect the rest of the game so I’ve been preaching to them to stay in the present moment and engage themselves and figure out what the next play is and be involved,” said Shimokawa, on the errors.

In the bottom of the sixth, Winkler walked Campos and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Joshua Inaba. Fong flied out to centerfield for the second out. Look was hit by a pitch and Winkler walked Jim On to load the bases.

The Crusaders were 2-1 against the Raiders during the regular season, but the ‘Iolani took an early lead against Saint Louis in the regular season finale, but fell, 3-2 on Apr. 19.

“We feel like we’re talented enough and we’re capable enough, we just need to put it together,” said Shimokawa.