Dave Reardon: Options were available to play state baseball title game on Maui

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Shane Dudoit had the right idea and the right position to make it a reality.

The Maui Department of Parks and Recreation's deputy director said the county was ready to facilitate the playing of the state baseball high school championship game between Baldwin and Maui at Iron Maehara Stadium in Wailuku, but he was turned down.

The game, to make up for Saturday's rainout at Moanalua High School on Oahu, could have been played on Maui instead of Oahu on various days after the Bears and Sabers won their semifinal games on Friday, Dudoit said.

Dudoit is also the head baseball coach at Kamehameha-Maui and was head coach of Baldwin's 2018 state championship team.

He recognizes how big this game would've been for his island — not to mention the basic concept of determining a state champion. It would be the first time two schools from Maui would meet in any sport for a state high school title.

Holding this game on Maui would be even more fitting since it's where the tournament's benefactor — baseball and football legend Wally Yonamine — was from.

"We had it all set up. It would be free, everybody bring their own food," said Dudoit, in a phone interview Tuesday. "(Tonight) would have been good. Everyone's pitchers would be eligible."

Maui and Baldwin were tied 2-all after two innings and two rain delays Saturday afternoon when the game at Moanalua was canceled, with both teams crowned co-state champions.

"I tried from Thursday," said Dudoit, of rescheduling a possible all-Maui final for Maehara Stadium. "But it was already decided."

Dudoit said he proposed having the teams play the championship game on Maui before the rainout, and after.

"I left it up to them. Even if they wanted to do something unofficial, I wanted to let them know we could do it,' Dudoit said. "I do understand that it wouldn't be the same, they were all bummed out."

Whenever it might have been played after Saturday, some players would not have been available for both teams, according to published reports.

But that doesn't mean it should not have been played.

In two informal surveys of players from both teams, not one player indicated that he did not want to play in a rescheduled game.

"Guys would've stayed. If it's on Maui, it definitely would've been packed," Maui pitcher Dawson Nuese told the Star-Advertiser's Paul Honda after Saturday's two innings.

Nuese also told Honda that teammates with travel plans would have tried to adjust them to play for the state title.

Honda also spoke with Baldwin outfielder Douglas Mortensen, who told him the Bears would have welcomed playing the Sabers on Maui this week.

"I think everybody just wanted to play. Nobody wanted it to end like this," he said.

Many players from both teams are going to Hilo later this week for the BIWBA Memorial Day Tournament and Scout Day.

It's apparent that no day was or is a perfect one for a replacement date — especially since both schools held graduation ceremonies in recent days.

Still, what Dudoit said about venue availability indicates that playing the game and determining a single champion was far from impossible.

But Hawaii High School Athletic Association and Maui Interscholastic League officials and the school's athletic directors decided last week that the obstacles were insurmountable on any day this week.

"There was always something on each day that would give one team a competitive advantage over the other," HHSAA Director of Information Natalie Iwamoto said Monday. "We wanted to finish this game and looked at every instance."

Other than both teams fielding their best players, the biggest hurdle would be securing a venue. The HHSAA was fortunate that Baldwin and Maui high schools are on the same island. But it did not take advantage of that good luck.

It did, however, do so in 2013, when Mid-Pacific beat Mililani 3-1 on Tuesday, May 14 at Les Murakami Stadium in Honolulu. The two Oahu teams made it to the championship game in the tournament held on Maui, but it was rained out the previous Saturday, so arrangements were made for the teams to play for the title when they got home.

"For a game of this magnitude, the decision-makers needed to cut through the obstacles and find a way to make it happen," said Keith Amemiya, chair of the governor's sports task force and a former HHSAA executive director. "We all know the game would've taken place if it involved Oahu teams. The game would've been talked about on Maui and across the state for years to come."

Now — unless it's not too late to take up Dudoit on his offer — it will be remembered as the state championship game that wasn't played.