BIIF Mathematics, er, Division Championship Implications

You might as well give the first person to solve this BIIF Football Division 2 mathematical equation a state title.

Oh wait, that would be me.

On behalf of my iPhone's Calculator, newspaper archives and radio highlights, and my smart brain, I would humbly accept this prestigeous award of BIIF Football Mathematician of the Year.

Okay, all kidding aside, thats pretty much what it takes to figure out all of the tiebreakers for a possible Kamehameha win. You ready?

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 7 points or less, the Konawaena Wildcats are DII Overall Champions

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 8 points, it creates a 2nd tie between HPA and Konawaena

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 9-10 points, HPA is the 2nd round champion and would play Konawaena next week

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 11 points, it creates a 2nd tie between HPA and Kamehameha

If Kamehameha beats Konawaena by 12 points or more, Kamahemeha is the 2nd round champion and would play Kona next Friday.

Of course all of this means nothing if one thing happens:

KONAWAENA WINS

Good luck.

You can hear this matchup on Saturday beginning at 7 pm on ESPN Radio.

BIIF Pre-season Football

If you log on to ESPNHawaii.com, you will be able to see the complete list of games for the BIIF Football season. Whether it is pre-season or regular-season, you won't be left in the dark when it comes to following your favorite team.

We've just added a second pre-season game to our schedule for this Friday night. Our friends at ESPN550 will be simulcasting a pre-season matchup between Kamehameha-Hawaii and Baldwin. I'll host BIIF Football Countdown at 6:30 pm, and we will have the game call from Fred Guzman and Barry Hele at 7 pm.

Talk about a hectic pre-season schedule for Kamehameha-Hawaii, they start off with the #8 team in the state in Kapolei, losing 43-0, and then they follow it up with the team that was ranked #7 in the last Star-Bulletin poll (and I'm sure they will be higher this week, I voted them in at #5).

Kapolei 43, Kamehameha-Hawaii 0

The #8 Ranked Kapolei Hurricanes didn't disappoint the Star-Bulletin voters in their win over 3-Time Defending Division II BIIF Champion Kamehameha-Hawaii.

Stay right here, because coming up I will have a link to the archived, condensed version of the broadcast, as I called it, on ESPN Radio Saturday night. That link should be up soon.

UPDATE: Click Here for ESPN Radio's Archived Games!

MLB Draft brings big choice for High School stars

With the MLB Draft underway today and running until the end of the 50th round tomorrow, the honor of being selected by a professional club to be one of their future stars comes with a big decision, mainly for those right out of high school.

Two Kamehameha-Hawaii players are widely considered for the draft this year, including Kolten Wong, who many people believe may go around the 10th round, and Blake Amaral. These are two of many different high school players around the country who are being selected in the entry level draft.

While it is a no-brainer that the Number One overall pick, SS Tim Beckham of Griffin, GA, a graduating high school senior, will take the offer of being the number one pick and go to the farm system in the Rays Organization, other high schoolers picked in the lower rounds won't have that easy of a choice.

Many of these high schoolers have already committed to play collgeiate baseball. he big question is whether these players want to sacrifice two things:

1) Quality Education

2) The natural graduation from high school - college - professional is natural and more progressive.

In the end, the choice is up to the kids, or should I say, the young adults, and what is best for them, Hopefully, they make the right choice.

Now that the State Baseball Tournament is over...

Congratulations to Kauai and Punahou, the champions of the Division II and Division I State Baseball tournament. Kauai had solid pitching throughout to beat St. Anthony's of Maui to win the 1-0 contest and take the first ever DII crown. Pitching was solid for Kauai. Jordan Buster picked up the complete game win for the Red Raiders, scattering three hits and striking out eight.

Make it 5 consecutive years that the Buffanblu have taken the title in the state baseball tournament. All Punahou needed was a four-run second inning to take the lead over Saint Louis, and Reece Kiriu did the rest. Kiriu also threw a complete game, striking out eight and allowing only three hits.

Our Big Island teams lasted through the first day and a half of the tournament. But we made some loud noise, especially on the first day. Remember when Kamehameha-Hawaii knocked out Kailua, which many people took to be a big surprise? How's about Blaise Kise's performance for Kohala on opening day, shutting down Kahuku in a fine pitching performance? For another year, we didn't make it to the final four in the state tournament, but we had some solid efforts.

Finally, let's see what the HHSAA learned from this year, especially with the introduction of the DII tournament. Surely, they will find things that they need to improve and fix, including the lack of working scoreboards at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park. Speaking of which....

I was talking to one of the scorers at Les Murakami Stadium about the very subject of CORP, and she said, and I quote, "Thank Mayor Jeremy Harris" in a sarchastic tone. Yep, this was his project. She added that the restrooms were too far away, and there wasn't enough planning put in to this park.

Sure, it has almost everything. 4 Baseball fields, at least. Little league parks, softball fields, tennis courts, pool. It is the hub for everyone in Waipio to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle. But, it seems like they left some things short.

First rule of putting together a tournament, in my opinion. You must hold it in a place where 1) the scoreboards work, and 2) you have an official scorekeeper at every field. There was one set of scorers for EVERY game at Les Murakami Stadium, meanwhile at CORP, they relied on different people to do it, usually stats people from the different schools. Come on, this is the finale to the baseball season. Let's do this RIGHT.

Is holding the DII tournament on the neighbor islands a viable possibility? Leave your comments and we will discuss here and on the air.

State Baseball Tournament: Day Two Thoughts

Tough day for our Big Island teams on Thursday. But it all had a common theme to it. Hitting and mistakes.

Kohala couldn't muster a hit against #1 Kauai in Division II. Some speculate that Kauai should've made an effort at playing Division I, but this is what they decided, and they crushed the Cowboys.

Speaking of a lack of hitting, that accurately describes Waiakea. Only got two hits as they got shut out by Saint Louis. The Crusaders haven't given up a run this postseason.

Now to the mistakes, and a couple of them proved costly for Kamehameha in their loss to Maui High. Kamehameha will play for 7th place on Saturday, as they lost to Roosevelt on Friday.

For #4 Honokaa in Division II, it was both. Three hits and three errors. They lost by 10 to Molokai.

Tough day to see the rest of our teams knocked out. We'll see what we can do in the consolation bracket.


*****UPDATE*****: We will broadcast the 5th place game between Waiakea and Roosevelt on Saturday beginning at 10:45 am from Les Murakami Stadium!

State Baseball Tournament: Day One Thoughts

Hello From Oahu,

Congratulations to Kamehameha, and Kohala for winning in Day one of the tournament. And they both did it with good pitching.

Kohala's Blaise Kise threw a complete game, striking out nine, and getting himself out of trouble in the last few innings. In fact, he left two on base to end the sixth, and allowed a couple runs in the seventh before shutting the door.

Meanwhile, from Patssy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park field 1 over to Les Murakami Stadium, and Kamehameha's Blake Amaral. He had his tough moments, including a HBP and some one-run-allowed innings, but the middle to back part of the order helped him out in the sixth, including help from the Kailua defense, as an E6 and E3 helped bring in the go-ahead runs in the sixth. Amaral, however, settled down late, and struck out a couple in the final frame, and eight for the game. Talking to some of the people in the press box after the game, the word they used to describe Corey Ishigo's team: Undisciplined. And it showed defensively in the sixth.

Couple of things already needed to look at for next year. We NEED a working scoreboard at Central Oahu Regional Park. To me, it's a little embarassing that people just walking can't tell the score, and that they don't even have official scorers. In fact during the HPA broadcast we did, the official scorer was actually the guy taking stats for Maryknoll. Oh BTW, you forgot to add the run that HPA picked up in the 5th. The final score in the HPA game should read 15-1, not 15-0.

Oh, and one more thing. No one told me that there is a hospitality room for the media, so I didn't have to go downstairs at Murakami and buy a hot dog and mountain dew. I found out that they had sandwiches and drinks there.

Big thank you to my taxi driver, Nam. Got tipped pretty well Wednesday, as I was pretty much his only client from the hotel to Murakami to CORP and back to the hotel. I'm saving my receipts.

Schedule for Thursday:

11:15 am (after a special baseball edition of the Josh Pacheco Show)

Kamehameha-Hawaii vs. Maui

1:45 pm

Saint Louis vs. Waiakea

And, by the way, Friday's edition of the Josh Pacheco Show will be LIVE from the Ilima Hotel conference room. You can e-mail, call-in, text in, all the same. I just won't be in the studio. But we will have "Yes-naka" running the board and answering the calls.

Do we have a chance in the State Tournament?

First off, I apologize for not posting towards the end of last week. With preparing for the baseball broadcasts, other jobs, and well, okay, I admit, a Thursday late night gathering at the "establishment," I couldn't get on the computer to do the daily blogs. With that said, time to answer the subject question: Can a Big Island team win at the State Baseball Tourney?

YES.

Take a look over at Division II and you will see four teams, all with different roads to get to the crown. The 4th seed in Honokaa has a first round bye and awaits either Radford or Mokokai. I like their arms, yet I'm a tad disappointed with their bats, especially when I saw them on Saturday where they didn't take advantage of opportunities that were handed to them on a silver platter, and waited until the 6th inning to get their first hit.

Konawaena blew the DII championship, and has the task of playing Kalaheo. If they win, they face Waipahu. If they can cut down on the mistakes, they could surprise a few people, even myself.

HPA took third place at the BIIF Tourney, and got the luckiest draw of all. They face winless Maryknoll in the first round. Look for them to advance to the 2nd round against St. Anthony.

Kohala may be the most dangerous team of all. Disappointing showing at the BIIF tourney, which forced them into a first round game against Kahuku, who is more known for their football than baseball. If they get by, it sets up a showdown with Kauai. Don't count out the Cowboys in any round of this tourney.

What about Division I?

Waiakea took the DI BIIF Crown, and draw a bye to await the winner of Saint Louis and Baldwin. Therein lies the first problem. Saint Louis most likely will win, and is one of the top two or three teams in the state. Bar none. Waiakea's pitching is also suspect, as was proven in the BIIF Championship game as they nearly blew a 10 run lead. We know they can hit, but can they pitch and not break down defensively?

Kamehameha-Hawaii gets a first round matchup with Kailua, and that could be a tough assignment, as Kailua was ranked #4 in last week's Star Bulletin Top 10, which I am a voter of. If they get past that, their road looks a little easier, with #4 Maui waiting. We know Kamehameha can hit and score with anyone, but can the rest of their game stay on pace?

I think the best shot to win a championship lies in Division II. DI has talent, but the scheduling may do them in, as I do not think there is any break whatsoever in the schedule. But the less heralded Division II will show an exciting showing from Division II teams that in other years, you wouldn't hear a peep from.

The Worst Word in Sports: TIE

I thought we learned our lesson from last year's Hilo / Kamehameha overtime game that ended up in a tie after 9 innings of play. It wasn't a popular decision, especially so close to the playoffs. But I guess not.

If you were listening on Wednesday afternoon, you heard a wacky, wild, and compelling extra innings affair between Kamehameha and Keaau on the Warriors home field. We saw 8 errors, 3 Cougars caught between the basepaths, batters hitting out of order, and an untimely rain delay. This game went to the top half of the 8th inning, and with one on and two out, the rain came down hard enough for the umpires to delay the game. That's where the chaos began.

The rain wasn't showing any signs of letting up, and both umpires met with both head coaches and decided to call the game. That's when I expected to hear that they would suspend the game and finish it either the next day. As I was wrapping up the broadcast, I was told that the coaches and umpires met and that they would play the game over again. But then, the law was set in stone for us.

After I got off the air, BIIF Executive Director Ken Yamase hurried to the field, met with both athletic directors and both head coaches, and made a different decision based on the letter of the law in the league. Here's how he described it to me after the fact (and I'm paraphrasing):

1: The game is called a tie. 7-7 is the final score.

2: Both teams remain with the same record, and if both win on Saturday, they will be tied going into the playoffs.

3: BIIF rules state that a playoff game is only called to decide the top seed / regular season champion in a respective division.

4: Because Keaau and Kamehameha are both tied for 3rd place, a playoff game cannot be played to decide who would be the higher seed, in the event that both take care of business on Saturday.

5: The next option to determine a tie is by head-to-head results. Since they only played once, and it ended in a tie, nothing remains decided (still following me?)

6: The last option to resolve a tie is by coin flip. Both teams defered to having the coin flip after Saturday's games, as long as both teams win or both teams list on Saturday. Both schools athletic directors will be summoned by Mr. Yamase either at his office or at an undisclosed location to flip the coin and determine who will be the 3 seed and who will be the 4.

Hope you caught all of that....why is this so important? The 4th seed would end up playing Waiakea. Waiakea beat Kamehameha by 2 to open the season, and Waiakea beat Keaau by 2 in 10 innings. The 3rd seed would end up playing Hilo, the 2 seed. Keaau beat Hilo earlier in the season, and Kamehameha lost to Hilo by 2 in a game we broadcast a few weeks ago.

What would I do? I would go back another day and finish the game....these players worked so hard and went into extra innings and to call it a tie is such a shame. No one likes to lose, every one loves to win, but all sides never play for a tie.


PS. For those of you listening to Wednesday's edition of the Josh Pacheco show, I said I would put up the clip of the Denver Nuggets coaching staff's intresting pre-game "moshing"...check this out: