On the strength of two undefeated weekends before the start of the regular season, ‘Iolani and Baldwin are the top two teams in the first Honolulu Star-Advertiser Baseball Top 10 rankings released today.
The Raiders collected only two of the 10 first-place votes, but are ahead of Baldwin, which received six first-place votes. Mid-Pacific and Campbell received one each.
‘Iolani won the Richard Kitamura Baseball Tournament at Mid-Pacific, finishing 4-0 with wins over three ranked teams — including host MPI in the final on Sunday.
Baldwin went 3-0 in a tournament on Maui, which included a win over defending ILH champion Saint Louis.
Five of the top six teams in the first poll are from the ILH, with the Owls, Crusaders, Punahou and Kamehameha following in order behind Baldwin.
Mililani, Campbell, Kapolei and Waiakea round out the top 10.
The regular season in the OIA and ILH begins Wednesday with quality games in both leagues. No. 1 ‘Iolani will host No. 4 Saint Louis at 3:30 p.m. while the seventh-ranked Trojans will host No. 8 Campbell at 3 p.m.
No. 6 Kamehameha will debut under first-year head coach Kahi Kaanoi against No. 3 Mid-Pacific at 3:30 p.m. at Goeas Field in Hawaii Kai.
No. 2 Baldwin won’t open the MIL regular season until March 15 against Lahainaluna.
No. 9 Kapolei plays at Leilehua on Wednesday.
No. 10 Waiakea, which advanced to the state final last year, starts BIIF play on Tuesday against Pahoa.
Also receiving votes were Hilo (15), Pearl City (nine), Kalani (nine), Maui (seven), Kailua (two) and KS-Maui (one).
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Top 10
| FOOTBALL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Updated: 10/23 | ||
| RANK | SCHOOL | VOTES |
| 1. | Kahuku (10) | 100 |
| 2. | Miililani | 86 |
| 3. | Campbell | 81 |
| 4. | Punahou | 73 |
| 5. | Saint Louis | 53 |
| 6. | Kapolei | 50 |
| 7. | Konawaena | 40 |
| 8. | Farrington | 23 |
| 9. | Lahainaluna | 18 |
| 10. | Kamehameha | 8 |
FYI. St. Louis is absolutely terrible this year. No pitching and no hitters. Punahou will be the same. All the talent but no coaching as always
Baseballer February 26, 2018 10:39 pm
FYI. St. Louis is absolutely terrible this year. No pitching and no hitters. Punahou will be the same. All the talent but no coaching as always
What makes you think that? at Punahou I mean.
Are you a disgruntled parent? There were a bunch that werent happy that their son didnt make the Varsity.
@ILH
Probably because they actually do have a talented team that never makes noise in the post season. they’ve had talented teams in the past but can’t make a dent in playoffs let alone states. So because of that, you base it off of coaching. At Punahou, there is a standard set from Coach Kadooka when he won 7 in a row with good teams and still won with sup par teams and its been 7 years since they last won, the only difference is new coaching staff. It’s like when STL football wasn’t winning because Cal Lee wasn’t there. It’s not the same.
Pretty sure this is the play where the ‘Iolani catcher got hurt.
Hope he’ll be able to come back and play at least part of the
season.
Good luck to all the teams!
Hey JustPlay, were you at the game? Why is Catcher foot so high? He hurt his left arm? MP player made a hard play or dirty one?
@Baseballer “ terrible “ is such a negative word. Maybe rebuilding year? Or maybe Young Team. I believe Campbell is underrated in these polls, They have Pitching, Good Defense and Great bats in their lineup. With Pontes hurt from Kamehameha, Punahou’s Bisho is a great Pitcher and will be in contention of the State Pitcher of the Year along with the Pitcher from that Pitcher from Baldwin. And watch out for that Center Field from Hilo Micah Bello he is the real deal.
ILH will be very competitive this year, and with 3 teams coming out it should be interesting on who comes out. I think, Iolani, Punahou and a toss up between MidPac and Kam.
As for OIA, in the West it’s between Campbell and MilVille also Kapolei is an Up and Coming Team.
East, Kailua will be the team to beat. But Kalani and Kaiser is decent as well.
Good Luck to All the Teams.
Just looking at the photo and hearing from others who were there … the throw was high, so catcher had to jump. Picture is of the catcher landing just as the runner is sliding to home. Bad timing, the catcher got tripped up and tried to brace his fall with glove arm. Immediate injury and everybody knew. No dirty play at all. You can see the runner making a legal slide straight for home.
So St. Louis loses to both Kalani and Kailua and is still ranked no. 4? makes sense den
By the ways, word is this is a “rebuild” year for St. Louis because they have a bunch of kids “redshirting.” I think bunch of boys transferring over from other schools and can not play this year but St. Louis expected to be contenders next year.
How long before some of the Punahou disgruntleds make their way across the street to Maryknoll?
Punahou’s coaches are terrible.
Hmmmm? Yup … what Falcon Future wrote. No dirty play. Not sure what the latest is on his injury, but the initial thought was that he broke his forearm on the play. You don’t ever want to see that happen. ESPECIALLY in just a pre-season game.
The whole ilh is horrible, especially the parents. They all think their owed something, typical rich parents, if ur kid aint got it he gonna ride the bench face it. I hate how soft the game got. Back in the day this was a dream for a runner haha. Nothing dirty just some hard nosed tough baseball.
Costas Quinten Torres, Salt Lake, playing in Milwaukee Brewers.
@DONALD Why would you say that? My children were coached by some of the best coaches at Punahou!
Donald Yanagi- Are you still talking about the baseball coaches from now? or before that?
Ron J- Now and before.