WAIPIO-Jobi Fontenot loves pressure situations.

Perhaps a little too much.

Fontenot's pick-off throwing error to first sent the potential tying runner to third base with no out in the bottom of the seventh before striking out the side to save Radford's  7-6 win against Waipahu for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association White baseball championship Saturday at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park.

The Rams successfully defended their White title; they beat Waipahu, 3-2, last year. It also was the school's fourth overall crown.

"He's not intimidating on the mound," Radford coach Jacob Sur said of the 5-foot-8, 155-pound right-handed Fontenot. "He's not an imposing figure, but that's the guy you want up to bat with two outs, bases loaded and that's the guy you want on the mound to shut it down. That's just the type of kid he is."

After scoring twice in the top of the seventh to take the lead for the first time all day, Jerry Tanupo led off the bottom of the seventh with a single off Kea Owens, the Rams' third pitcher of the game. With the tying run on first, Sur moved Fontenot shortstop to the mound. After starting off Micah Luke with a called strike, Fontenot's pick-off throw to first sailed down the right field foul territory, allowing Tanupo to take third.

The Rams drew their infield in, but Fontenot struck out Luke, Jarinn Abreau and Kalani Spencer - heart of the Marauders' order -  to save the win for Owens, who pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

"At first, I was like, 'Oh, no. I gave the game away,'" Fontenot said. "Then I just had to bear down and throw strikes."

"You have to give him credit," Waipahu coach Milton Takenaka said. "We had our four, five, six hitters (in the batting order) up and we didn't put it in play."

Trailing 6-5, the Rams scored twice in the top of the seventh to pull ahead.

Fontenot ignited the rally by leading off with a single to short and went to second on Joseph Mafnas' single to left. The runners advanced on Troy Evans' sacrifice. Owens' single to right-center scored Fontenot with the tying run and moved the go-ahead run to third. Roscoe Kaliikane grounded to third for a force at second; the relay to first was too late for the inning-ending double play, as Mafnas scored the go-ahead run.

The Rams took a 2-0 lead after their first two at-bats, but the Marauders posted five  in the bottom of the second when nine batters went to the plate. Drake Yoshioka's two-run single, Dylan Sugimoto's RBI single and Tanupo's two-run double did the damage.

Radford pulled to 5-4 in the third on an RBI triple by Mafnas, who then scored on a wild pitch by starting pitcher Sugimoto.

Waipahu added a run in the fourth Sugimoto's infield hit, but Radford pulled towith one in the fifth on Owens' RBI single.

Yoshioka, who took over for starter Sugimoto (five innings, five runs, eight hits), pitched the finals two innings, allowing two runs that were the difference.

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