Hawaii Sports

On this date in 1909, the ILH locked down a schedule for its first official baseball season. Punahou ended up winning the circuit, and repeated in 1910, but the thing that had fans most excited was the parity. The final contest, won by Punahou over Kamehameha in 11 innings, continued a theme of close games that was lauded by both newspapers, which pointed out that the only blowout came after the race was decided and McKinley played some younger boys. […]

On this day in 1983, Eddie Hayashi hit a pair of home runs and Pac-Five thumped Mid-Pacific in a makeup game. For all of Hayashi’s distance, he wasn’t anywhere near the league’s leaders in batting average. That honor belonged to Kalani Perry of Kamehameha, who was hitting a robust .548 on his way to finishing at .468. Iolani’s Scott Fujita led pitchers with a 1.20 ERA, but only garnered honorable mention on the Star-Bulletin’s ILH All-Stars at the end of […]

On this day in 1927, the McKinley baseball team had every indication that it would have an easy time in the upcoming baseball season. Yim Lum was the star on the mound as the Tigers beat visiting Hilo 11-1 after beating the Vikings 8-3 the day before. Lum, a football star who also played basketball and ran track, allowed only four hits in the victory. Prior to the season, Lum was seen as only a hitter. By the end of […]

There was plenty of room in Jerome Williams‘ shadow in 1999. On this day in 1999, Silas Ah Sui of Nanakuli and Radford’s Jacob Sur matched each other strikeout for strikeout in an OIA West clash. The Golden Hawks beat the Rams 1-0 when Maka Vickers doubled home Ah Sui in the fourth inning. Ah Sui struck out 14 Rams in seven innings and Sur punched out 12 Golden Hawks. Sur allowed five hits and no walks while Ah Sui […]

On this day in 1980, Iolani pitcher Paul Tonaki made good on a second chance. Grant Uyeno got Tonaki out of a jam in the seventh inning and Iolani beat Kamehameha 9-3 at Iolani. Tonaki was cruising to the win when the Warriors loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning when Uyeno came to the rescue. Tonaki took the hill and put zeroes up for the final two innings. Things turned out OK for Kamehameha, though, as […]

Richard Funai spent only two years as Waialua’s head baseball coach before becoming athletic director, but in the first of those two years he made quite an impact. On this date in 1958, Funai led his Bulldogs to an 8-5 victory over winless Castle to clinch the ROIA crown with a 9-1 record. Waialua’s victory broke Waipahu’s decade of dominance. Masa Yonamine won the title back for the Marauders the next year. Waialua hasn’t won an OIA title since. All-Star […]