Baseball

On this day in 1981, Saint Louis finally got over the hump to win an ILH baseball title. The Crusaders finished second three years in a row before breaking through for coach Eric Texidor. It was the program’s first league title since 1974 and it wouldn’t do it again until 1989. Saint Louis beat Waimea in the first round of the state tournament behind Nathan Chun, but ran into Kaiser great Sid Fernandez and lost 8-0 to the Cougars in […]

On this day in 1959, Lyman Koike and Thomas Serikaku each banged out three hits and the Mid-Pacific baseball team beat Kaimuki 13-5. Herbert Nakasone took a two-hit shutout into the ninth inning before Kaimuki rallied to knock him out of the box. The win moved the Owls into fifth place in the ILH with the four-team playoffs looming. The Owls tied Punahou with a win on the last day of the regular season and then won a three-team playoff […]

On this day in 1957, Donald Sakamoto threw a shortened no-hitter and Hilo beat rival St. Joseph’s for the BIIF South title. Sakamoto’s gem was called off because of rain in the fifth inning, but was deemed official. Sakamoto faced only 16 batters, walking one and allowing another to reach on an error. Rather than cry about the early stoppage, St. Joe went on to reach the BIIF tournament final against Hilo. The Vikings jumped out to a 9-0 lead […]

For all aspiring baseball players who look over the expanses of Joey DeSa Field and imagine hitting a ball to the farthest reaches of center field, know this: Former Farrington star Ron Ramie has been there. On this day in 1961, Ramie hit a 400-foot home run and John Matias added two more dingers as Farrington beat Kalani 12-2. The Governors did the damage against Dick Watkins, who was one of the premier pitchers in the league and led the […]

Pay no attention to the small sample size, Flo Galinato of Saint Louis was always near the top of the ILH’s batting leaders. On this day in 1963, all of the games were rained out so it provided an opportunity for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to run batting and pitching leaders. Galinato ended the season third that year with a .458 average, behind Gordon Shimizu of Farrington and Kalani’s Mike Lum. They both hit .500 but Shimizu had 12 more at […]