Greg Yamamoto | SL

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One week ago Pearl City ascended to the top spot in the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Baseball Power Rankings for the first time this season.

Friday was my first live look at the Chargers — in a 9-5 win over Aiea — and not only do they look the part of No. 1 team on the field, they're saying all the right things off of it as well.

Second-year coach Gavin Concepcion has his alma mater sitting pretty in first place in the seven-team Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West standings. With its 9-0 record, Pearl City is the lone remaining unbeaten in the OIA D1 ranks.

Concepcion had some interesting things to say about his team's No. 1 ranking in a phone interview Thursday:

"We've never shied away from it. In fact, we've addressed it and we continue to. The great thing about sports and competing and coming out here is you want to be the best. It's not about coming out here and saying, ‘I hope I do well.' Our mentality is that we're going to go out there and do what we need to do to be at our best, so if we're No. 1 then it's OK, because it's a result of the team buying into themselves and executing on the field. You talk about, you embrace it and that way the kids know it's on the table and they know that they can be in that discussion."

While the Chargers have embraced the position, they certainly haven't let it get to their heads.

Both players I spoke with postgame Friday — starting pitcher Carson Okada and first baseman Christian Onomura — made it clear that it's about "we" and not "me."

Okada, a 5-foot-10 junior right-hander, had just thrown six solid innings of five-hit ball in one of his best individual performances of the year thus far, but he spoke almost exclusively of the collective effort, not his own.

"For my team — or, not my team, but the team — it's about working hard for everything we get and we just come together as one and we win," Okada said. "The team did really good. I think we have the potential to do something good."

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Okada, who allowed a two-run home run to the second batter he faced Friday. His teammates, however, picked him up.

"He had a little rough inning, but knowing him, we know that he can still pound it for us, throw strikes up there, go to work for us and give us at least a chance," said Onomura, who overcame a slow start himself Friday.

Onomura, a 5-foot-8 junior, popped out in his first at bat then struck out in his second. However, he stroked a two-run triple his next time up and added an RBI-single in his final at bat.

"We're pretty confident in ourselves, but we still can get better and we're not going to stay too complacent up there," said Onomura, who tweaked his knee while stretching for a throw at first in Wednesday's 8-3 win over Campbell. "Every day it's in and out, grinding out and there's never a doubt that we're always going to win. We have that mindset that we're always going to take the game, but we know that we always have to work for it."

The Chargers played steady — and at times, spectacular — defense behind Okada, including a pair of diving catches in the outfield by Trenton Darley in left and Matt Yokota in center.

The first time the teams met this season, Aiea rallied to tie it with three runs in the top of the seventh, only to see Pearl City win it in walk-off fashion in the bottom of the frame. Concepcion said that first game against Na Alii taught his team about resiliency, a lesson that continues to pay off with his players.

"That's like every game; It's never really over until the last out," Onomura said. "All teams still have a chance. I've seen teams go down 10-0 in the fourth inning and then they come back and score 12 runs, so it's never over and that's why we've always got to work hard and pick up each other when we make mistakes."

Pearl City will visit Waipahu Wednesday before closing out the regular season against Mililani and Leilehua next week.