Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Punahou, Mililani to play for D1 state crown


Michael Lasquero | ScoringLive
May 11, 2019, 2:27am

 



The 2019 Division I state baseball championship game will have a "dynasty vs. destiny" feel to it.

Punahou will try to add title No. 14 to its trophy collection while Mililani is looking to cap its magical postseason run with its first-ever state crown when the two teams duke it out Saturday night at Iron Maehara Stadium in the Wally Yonamine Foundation Baseball Championships.

The second-ranked Buffanblu (16-4) belted out 11 hits and cashed in on four errors in their 10-2 semifinal win over Hilo (14-4) on Friday to reach their first state title game since 2010.

A few hours later, the seventh-ranked Trojans (15-2) dethroned reigning state champion Baldwin (15-1) in eighth innings, 2-1 in walk-off fashion thanks to a bases-loaded wild pitch that plated the game-winning run to send Mililani to its third state title game appearance.

Leadoff batter John Richard Suehisa came home for the game-winning run to give the Trojans' their third walk-off victory in four postseason contests. He also scored in a similar fashion to give Mililani the 3-2 win over Campbell in the OIA championship game.

"This feels just like OIAs, but we're going for the ship. We're not stopping now," Suehisa said after the Trojans' semifinal win.

The walk-off victories may be nerve-racking for Mililani fans, but coach Mark Hirayama wouldn't have it any other way.

"I said it before numerous times, I'd rather be lucky than good," Hirayama said.

"We didn't execute very well, but we were able to keep it close against a really good Baldwin team —and luck kind of was on our side tonight."

While Mililani can ride the emotional-high of its late game heroics, Punahou is taking an even-keeled approach before the final game of the season.

"Every season has its story and we're still writing ours," said Punahou coach Keenan Sue, who played under Hirayama in the mid-1990s when Hirayama was a hitting coach for the Buffanblu.

"We'll wake up in the morning, have a great breakfast and we'll have a great warmup and we'll have a great first inning and we'll take it from there. That's all we're focused on, just staying in the moment."

The winner of Saturday's game will be the first non-Maui team to win the state title since 2015.

Game time is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

Mililani's JR Suehisa is lifted up by a handful of teammates after scoring the game-winning run. Mililani's JR Suehisa is lifted up by a handful of teammates after scoring the game-winning run. CJ Caraang | SL


Reach Michael Lasquero at [email protected].




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