Crusaders Ezekiel Ribuca could not see anything behind him, but his teammate Sean Yamaguchi could clearly see an Interscholastic League of Honolulu title right in front of him.
Crusaders Yamaguchi, who was on third on Ribuca’s grounder to the shortstop, took off and scored the winning run-in bottom of the eighth inning. This gave Saint Louis a 4-3 victory over the ‘Iolani Raiders to win the ILH baseball championship.
The Saint Louis Crusaders (14-3-1), this year’s ILH regular season champs, won the league’s seeded berth in next week’s state baseball tournament by defeating the ILH tournament champion ‘Iolani (10-12),
Nu’u Contrades hit a 2-run homer, and Aiva Arquette tied it with a 2-out RBI single in the seventh. This forced extra innings.
Saint Louis won its fifth ILH title this academic year with the victory, which included the triple crown of baseball, boys’ basketball, and football. This feat had not been achieved since 1967. Saint Louis coach, George Gusmam, was a high school sophomore in 1967.
