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By:
Bob Hogue- Digital Sports Hawaii Senior Sports
Correspondent- April 19th, 2007
No way to explain it,
except WILD! The undefeated, top-ranked, and
three-time defending baseball state champion Punahou
Buffanblue scored the game-winning run on a bases
loaded walk in the bottom of 7th-inning, edging
arch-rival and 2nd-ranked Iolani, 11-10, on Thursday
at Ala Wai Field.
The win was the 12th straight for the
Buffanblue who finished the ILH regular season with
a perfect 12-0 record. Iolani finished the regular
season at 9-3.
Paul Snieder drew a bases-loaded walk to force
home Tyler Hanzawa from third base for the
game-winning run. Punahou scored twice in the
bottom of the 7th after Iolani rallied for two runs
in the top of the 7th to take a 10-9 lead.
Punahou’s 7th inning rally began with a one-out single to left by
Evan Bisho, who advanced to second when Hanzawa was
hit by a pitch. The runners advanced to second and
third on a wild pitch, so Matt Suiter was walked
intentionally to load the bases. Josh Bninski
followed with a high drive to centerfield that fell
in for a game-tying single. All base runners
advanced to re-load the bases. After a pitching
change, Sneider took a check swing on a 3-1 count
and after the umpires checked to see if he swung, he
was awarded a base on balls, thus forcing home the
game-winning run.
The two-run rally by Punahou negated a
potentially great comeback by Iolani. The Raiders,
who trailed by scores of 8-3 and 9-4, pulled to
within one run in the sixth inning when sophomore
pitcher Breland Almadova hit a three-run home run to
straight-away centerfield. Almadova was just called
up from the junior varsity in mid-season and
appeared headed for the pitching victory when Iolani
rallied for two more runs in the top of the 7th.
In the Raider 7th, Lionel Fujioka hit a bad-hop
triple to centerfield to get Iolani going. Darren
Sonobe followed with a line-shot triple to the right
centerfield gap to plate Fujioka with the tying
run. Then, after a walk, Sonobe scored on a wild
pitch to the backstop, just sliding under the tag
of Punahou pitcher Reid Okita.
Okita was the winning pitcher in relief, while
Sean Takahashi took the loss. The game also
featured a pitching stint by Iolani’s Robson Bunda,
the son of former Senate President Bobby Bunda. The
younger Bunda has come back from a shoulder injury
that kept him sidelined for most of his senior
season.
The two teams now advance to the ILH
post-season tournament. If Punahou wins that, then
they will be the lone ILH representative in the
state tournament. If another team besides the
Buffanblue win the conference tourney, then a
one-game playoff between Punahou and the tournament
champion will determine that one bid.
Confused? Just consider it the wild ILH.
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