HONOLULU — It has been a banner year for Campbell Sabers athletics.

No, like literally a year that could fill a banner with accomplishments.

The Campbell Sabers’ (13-2) baseball team won its first OIA DI baseball championship since 2015 on Friday night, taking down the Leilehua Mules (9-6) at Les Murakami Stadium, 10-3.

The championship was Campbell’s fourth of the 2022-2023 school year, as baseball joined the softball team that won the OIA Division I crown last week against Waianae, 7-0, and both basketball teams from the winter season. The girls’ basketball team took down Moanalua in a defensive slugfest, 28-22, and the boys avenged their only regular season loss against Mililani, 50-45.

Despite the success of the school’s athletic programs this year, Campbell fans and players alike partied like it was 2015 again following the win.

Patience was key for the Sabers, both at the plate as they faced Mules’ starter Pono Arindain and for their fans early after seeing Campbell fall behind, 2-0, right away in the top of the first.

It wouldn’t take long for fans’ patience to be rewarded, as the Sabers worked five walks in their first ABs of the day, chasing Arindain from the game just one out in. Those five free passes, coupled with an RBI single to right from Shaun-Lee Saito to bring around the third and fourth run of the inning for Campbell, and the Sabers had quickly snatched the lead from Leilehua, 4-2. 

“[Arindain] is really a good pitcher, he’s got some really good stuff,” Campbell skipper Wayne Nagamine said postgame. “But there’s tendencies when we watched him play or he threw against us to be wild and we were making sure we didn’t swing at anything high or swung at pitches we could handle in the beginning part, and we got fortunate enough it paid off.”

Campbell starter Morgan Lavin settled in after his team had erased the deficit and given him a two-run lead, putting up zeroes in the second and third innings before righty Ismael Diaz entered in relief with one away in the top of the fourth inning. 

The Sabers would add on to their lead in the bottom half of the fourth, using two consecutive errors to help add three more runs while facing three different pitchers in the inning. Tanner Tammarine eventually escaped the jam, as the Leilehua staff was up to nine walks in just four innings. 

The Mules’ offense continued to struggle against Diaz, stranding runners in two of the three innings he finished and five innings total in the game. Matters worsened for Leilehua in the bottom of the sixth, when Campbell worked their 10th walk of the night while in the process of adding three more insurance runs ahead of the Mules’ final at-bats.

Leading 10-2, the Sabers turned to Kalaeloa Kalua to close out their first OIA baseball title since 2015 and sixth total. Leilehua would not go quietly though, quickly loading the bases with none out. Kalua and Campbell’s defense would regain control again with two quick outs, but then gave the Mules their third run of the night on a Kalua wild pitch. 

The Leilehua rally would be short-lived, though. Kalua snagged a rocket line-drive back at him for the final out of the game to clinch the 2023 OIA Division I baseball title for the Campbell Sabers. 

“It started way back in September,” Nagamine said of the Sabers’ process to get to this point. “We knew what the goal was, to win the states. We got in, this is a step [forward] to get in and we’ll see what happens. These kids really want it. As you can see, they fall apart at times, but they always come back. They’re so resilient.”

Pono Arindain was charged with the loss for Leilehua, going 0.1 innings, walking five and giving up four runs. While the righty didn’t have his best control on Friday, Arindain and the rest of the Mules will look to re-group ahead of next week’s state playoffs.  

Ismael Diaz earned the victory for Campbell, throwing 2.2 innings in relief of Morgan Lavin. Diaz gave up one run but no hits, walking two batters while holding Leilehua off the board until the seventh inning.  

Campbell’s Hunter Lindsey had himself a nice performance at the plate, helping account for five of the 10 Sabers’ runs while going 1-for-2 with three runs batted in and two runs scored.

“We’ve been playing ball right now, that’s all we can say,” said a smiling Nagamine after the game. “We’ll see what happens next week. Stay tuned, come back.” 

PHOTOS BY KUULEI AGBAYANI

HONOLULU — Friday night’s OIA Division II baseball championship between the Waipahu Marauders (12-1) and Kahuku Red Raiders (10-4) had tantalizing historic storylines at play before the first pitch was ever thrown.

The Red Raiders, a team who has struggled to get to the state tournament at all in the past, entered the night looking for the program’s first ever OIA title with a spot in next week’s state tournament already in hand. Kahuku also remains Waipahu’s lone loss on the season.

On the other side, Waipahu was looking to end a drought lasting over a decade since their last OIA baseball championship, a semi-unfamiliar amount of time for the original baseball dynasty in the OIA. The Marauders won 10 straight OIA titles from 1948 to 1957.

With history on the line, both starters brought their best stuff for a game that offense would be hard to come by. 

Getting the start for Waipahu, left-handed pitcher Phoenix Torres worked through the first inning quickly, getting the first two Kahuku batters before surrendering a walk. Torres calmly pitched around the game’s first baserunner, getting Davon Aea-Kubota to fly out to center.

Red Raiders’ starter Malakai Vendiola, who got the save in Kahuku’s 6-5 victory over Waipahu back on April 5, issued a lead-off walk to Donnie Miller, who was then caught stealing. Vendiola worked quickly for the next two outs, striking out both batters and sitting the Marauders down in order in a non-traditional fashion.

Torres would work around a two-out error from his defense to hold Kahuku off the board again in the top of the second inning, picking up two more strikeouts in the frame.

The Marauders capitalized on a pair of 2nd inning errors by the Red Raiders, scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning behind a Kamden Takanobu RBI single to right-center and a wild pitch coupled with a throwing error on the catcher. 

Kahuku put runners on the corners with two down in the top of the 3rd inning, but couldn’t push either across against Torres and the Marauders defense. The Waipahu left-hander had faced Kahuku in both previous matchups this season, building on his confidence each time.

“First time didn’t go so well, bounced back the second time and did good,” said Torres, who has pitched against Kahuku in all three meetings this season. “This was the game that mattered and that’s where I brought it all.” 

The two sides traded zeroes over the next three innings before Waipahu scratched across two more runs in the bottom of the 6th inning, a pair of much-needed insurance runs coming in part due to two more Kahuku errors. Waipahu junior catcher Kamden Takanobu picked up his second RBI of the day with a double down the line. 

“He showed it all today,” Torres said of his catcher’s championship performance. “Shoutout to Kamden, man.”

The extra two runs could not have come at a better time for the Marauders, with the Red Raiders down to their final three outs and feeling a chance at a rally against a tiring Torres.  

A leadoff walk, stolen base and E4 later, the Red Raiders were set up with a runner in scoring position and a run on the board with only one out. 

It looked as though Torres would be able to do what he had all night and shut down any further rally for Kahuku when he induced a groundout to second base for the second out of the inning but an RBI double down the left field line promptly ended the southpaw’s day with one out left in the game and a 4-2 lead.

“I knew [Kahuku] wouldn’t quit fighting,” Marauders’ head coach Ian Ferris said postgame. “The two runs, I knew we needed to add on a little bit more and yeah, those two runs at the end definitely sealed the deal for us.” 

Donald Miller entered the game, looking to close out the Marauders’ 20th OIA title in program history and the first since the 2012 season. The right-hander did exactly that, inducing a game-ending groundout to shortstop to clinch the 4-2 victory over Kahuku and denying the Red Raiders the program’s first OIA baseball title. 

Malakai Vendiola was charged with the loss for Kahuku, giving up three runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks while striking out six Waipahu batters. Vendiola also picked up the team’s only RBI of the day with his double in the 7th inning. 

Phoenix Torres went 6.2 innings, picking up the win after allowing two unearned runs on four hits and four walks, striking out seven Red Raiders over 103 pitches. Donnie Miller needed only five pitches to retire the final batter of the night and earn the save. 

“Everything was working, pitch calling was amazing,” Torres said of his performance. “Shoutout my defense, man, you know? They really picked it up back there. The energy was just intense, it was a good game all around.”

Both teams advance to next week’s state tournament, just the third time Kahuku has made it into states. The Red Raiders’ previous appearances came in the first two years of OIA Division II championships, 2008 and 2009.

“I’m just so happy and so proud of these guys,” Ferris gleamed following the win. “The work they’ve put in through the offseason workouts, the work they’ve put in on their own time…just really happy for them. These guys know the job ain’t done yet, we’ve got bigger goals we’re trying to hit but I’m just really happy for them.” 

HONOLULU — Unbeaten Nanakuli found themselves in an unusual spot taking on Aiea (12-2) in Saturday’s OIA Division II softball championship.

For just the second time all season long, the Nanakuli Golden Hawks (14-0) found themselves trailing in a softball game.

This first time was against this same Aiea Na Alii team back on March 23, a 7-6 comeback win for the Golden Hawks to hand Na Alii the lone loss on the team’s record. After Aiea jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the third inning, Nanakuli experienced déjà vu.

The top two teams from the regular season in OIA Division II play, Nanakuli and Aiea entered the evening with a combined record of 23-1 and scoring 194 runs in their games since the March 23 matchup.

After trading zeroes on the scoreboard for the first two innings, it looked like Aiea would take control of the game with a five-run 3rd inning powered by grand slam from slugger Trinity Caporus-Santos, her 7th of the season. 

Despite facing the team’s biggest deficit of the season, Nanakuli remained calm and trusted in their experiences to get to this moment in the first place.

A one-out triple followed by an Aiea error began the Golden Hawks’ championship game ascent from peril, giving Nanakuli its first run with just one out.

Nanakuli pitcher Melody Baligad helped her cause with an RBI double, a deep drive off the top of the centerfield wall and somehow staying in the park to cut it to 5-2. 

An RBI single by Kalia Cordeiro brought two more runs across, capping the four-run bottom of the 3rd for the Golden Hawks and snatching the momentum right back from Aiea.

Nanakuli tied the game, 5-5, in the bottom of the 4th with a pair of two-out doubles before taking a two-run lead in the 5th on an Ariel Barozzo-Carrillo RBI single to center.

The Golden Hawks added a pair of insurance runs in the 6th, using an RBI triple followed by an RBI single to go up 9-5 on Aiea as Na Alii were down to their final three outs. 

There would be no more theatrics though, as the comeback had already happened against Aiea instead of for Na Alii.

Baligad closed out her nice championship game performance by sitting down Aiea in order in the top of the 7th to clinch the first league title for the Golden Hawks since 2016. 

Nanakuli’s left-handed pitcher earned the win after throwing seven innings, walking five batters, allowing five runs that all came in the third inning, striking out four Aiea batters in total.

Aiea pitcher Taja Souza was tagged with the loss after going 5.1 innings, giving up nine runs (six earned) on 11 hits and striking out four in Na Alii’s second loss of the season, both against Nanakuli and in total. 

PHOTOS BY KUULEI AGBAYANI