Kaeo Aliviado pitched a four-hitter with seven strikeouts yesterday to help Saint Louis rout 'Iolani, 11-1, and -- about three and 1/2 hours later -- the Crusaders clinched their second straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball championship when Punahou rallied past Mid-Pacific, 8-7, on the same Ala Wai Field.
Saint Louis, which previously had gone 21 years between ILH titles, improved to 15-2 in league play with one game remaining and will receive the ILH's top seed and first-round bye in the state tournament May 4 to May 7. MPI, which secured the league's second and final state tournament berth on Tuesday, fell to 13-4.
"Coach (George Gusman) tells us to just get ready for the opponent in front of us, so we don't worry about the other teams and what they are doing," Aliviado said after the Crusaders' victory, as Punahou and Mid-Pac were going through their warm-ups nearby. "We just told ourselves we had to play our game and stay at a high level."
'Iolani (9-8) stunned the Crusaders, 10-1, on Wednesday and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning yesterday after Dylan Goto led off with a walk, advanced to second on Christian Donahue's sacrifice bunt, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Jensen Park's sacrifice fly to right field.
Aliviado then walked two more batters before Troy Odo's single to left appeared to load the bases, but the lead runner got caught in a rundown and was tagged for the third out near home plate.
Saint Louis then scored three runs in the bottom of the first, after Travis Shaw's two-run single to left and Dallas Correa's RBI single to center. The Crusaders made it 4-1 in the second on Derek Nakasato's single to right, and pushed it to 5-1 in the third after two walks, a wild pitch and an error.
They added two more runs in the fourth, after Kalei Contrades' RBI groundout and Shaw's bunt that resulted in a throwing error, then made it 8-1 in the fifth after a two-out infield error.
Saint Louis capped it off with a three-run sixth, after Dallas Tu'umalo slammed a two-run triple and scored on a wild pitch with two outs to end the game due to the 10-run rule.
Aliviado, meanwhile, turned in yet another complete game victory despite seven walks. Twice -- in the fourth inning and again in the sixth -- he escaped a bases-loaded jam, and the Raiders left 10 men on base overall.
"He's been through the Little League World Series, so he's mentally tough," 'Iolani coach Jason Arakaki said of Aliviado, who played first base on West O'ahu's LLWS championship team in 2005. "He battled through that first inning, and he kept battling."
Gusman said the game was a key test for Aliviado.
"Kaeo was not sharp, but he got through it," Gusman said. "It's easy when you're at the top of your game, but when you're struggling and can fight through it anyway ... that's the sign of a champion."
Nakasato finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs, and Shaw went 2 for 4 with two runs batted in.