Pearl City baseball ahead of last year’s pace
April 25th, 2008 by WesLast year proved to be a pretty good one for Pearl City baseball, with the Chargers winning the OIA championship and finishing second in the state — their first league title since 1999 and highest state finish since 1993.
But this year, so far, PC looks to be in an even better position.
Remember that the Chargers finished third in the Western Division last year, needing to beat Moanalua ace Kekoa Lee (now at UH-Hilo) in the OIA tournament first round and then rallying past Roosevelt with five runs in the top of the seventh to break a 1-1 tie in the quarterfinals.
This time, Pearl City won the West, got the first-round bye and then blitzed past Roosevelt, 10-0, in yesterday’s quarterfinals.
And like last year, the Chargers’ hitting and pitching appears ready to step it up a notch. Starting lefty Bryson Nakamura looked sharp, amazingly needing only 42 pitches to earn the three-hit victory in five innings of work.
“Everything was working for him,” said Carlton Tanabe, the Chargers’ senior catcher. “My dad (Colin) had a scouting report on them, so we had a game plan.”
Nakamura’s low pitch count means he definitely could be available for Saturday’s championship game should PC get past Castle tonight. Cory Yuh, who like Nakamura has playoff experience from last year, likely will get the start tonight.
Meanwhile, just like last year, the Chargers bats seem to have come alive at the right time.
Tanabe, who entered the game hitting .250, went 3-for-3 yesterday. Namba, who was hitting .353 but had struck out seven times in his last three games, went 2-for-2.
“Carlton and Bryson had been struggling, but it looks like they’re coming out of their shell,” said Pearl City coach Gary Nakamoto. “We’ve been working on our hitting, so hopefully our bats will still be hot (tonight).”
If there’s a feeling of deja vu for the Chargers and their fans this week, that could be a very good thing indeed.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:26 am
Pearl City looks really solid. Pitching, defense, hitting, got it all. Roosevelt didn’t have a chance especially if Carlton’s dad (Colin) was scouting them. I think the guy knows a little about baseball (hah, hah). Actually in my opinion the best catcher to come out of UH. Is he one of the Pearl City coaches?
April 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Definitely the team to be beat in States right now. 3 solid starters, experience from last year’s championship game, if they hit just a little, you can crown them state champs.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Harold,
How can you say Roosevelt had no chance of beating PC? The Roosevelt coaching staff is a very experienced staff with a lot of baseball knowledge. They have been able to be competitive with lesser talent for years.