Punahou started the 2021 baseball season slow, but picked up the pace and is riding the momentum all the way into Saturday’s Interscholastic League of Honolulu championship game.
Game time is 6:30 p.m. at Hans L’Orange Park in Waipahu. The opponent: the Saint Louis Crusaders (7-2), a team the Buffanblu beat 6-4 in the regular season.
Three pitchers have been huge in Punahou’s late-season rise to a 6-2-1 record — Rustin Katsura, Rylan Burigsay and Cade Terada-Herzer.
With the save in the Buffanblu’s 6-4 semifinal victory over Kamehameha, Terada-Herzer came up big on Thursday night at Central Oahu Regional Park. Katsura, the starter, earned the victory in that one, allowing no runs in four innings. Burigsay ran into trouble in the fifth, but his Punahou teammates talked about how he’ll be back in form if he’s called upon Saturday.
A screenshot of Punahou’s Cade Terada-Herzer throwing to the game’s final batter
(above) and the Buffanblu’s handshake line after Thursday’s victory.
Earlier in the day Thursday, Caleb Lomavita hit two home runs and pitched a complete game as the Crusaders advanced to the championship game by eliminating Mid-Pacific 11-6 at the Owls’ home field.
With the loss, Mid-Pacific missed out on a seventh league title since 2012.
If Punahou can get past Saint Louis, it will repeat as ILH champions, having won it in 2019, the year before COVID-19 wiped out the full 2020 season.
The Crusaders are going for their first ILH crown since 2017.
—
>> RIVALS WAIKIKI BASEBALL GAME OF THE WEEK: Punahou Stops Kamehameha To Ride Into ILH Final
>> How Does One Begin To Explain Colt Brennan’s Death And Hawaii’s Sorrow? It’s Not Easy
>> WATCH: Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung’s Hit To Give Maryknoll The ILH Softball Championship
>> Maryknoll’s Conquest Of ‘Iolani Is Good For ILH Softball Title
—
Whichever team wins Saturday will not be able to try its hand at earning a state title, since that tournament is a victim of COVID-19 for the second straight year.
Since the state baseball tournament began in 1959, Punahou has won it 14 times (1961, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1989, 2004 through 2010, and 2019).
As far as state titles go, Saint Louis has two (1974 and 2014).
WATCH the video below of Punahou’s celebration and handshake line after Terada-Herzer pitched the final out on Thursday with Kamehameha runners on the corners.
ILH Baseball Champions Since 2007
>> 2020: No season (COVID-19)
>> 2019: Punahou*
>> 2018: Mid-Pacific
>> 2017: Saint Louis
>> 2016: Mid-Pacific
>> 2015: Mid-Pacific
>> 2014: Mid-Pacific
>> 2013: Mid-Pacific*
>> 2012: Mid-Pacific
>> 2011: Saint Louis
>> 2010: Saint Louis
>> 2009: ‘Iolani
>> 2008: Punahou*
>> 2007: Punahou*
*-also won state tournament in same year
