Maui All-Stars make history with back-to-back AJA Baseball state titles
The Maui AJA All-Stars won just three of the first 85 Hawaii State AJA Baseball Championship tournaments.
The last two, however, have belonged exclusively to the Valley Isle.
Maui beat Oahu 8-7 on Saturday and then downed the Big Island 9-5 in the championship game on Sunday at Vidinha Stadium on Kauai.
It is the first time ever that Maui has won the title back to back.
Last season the Valley Isle nine was made up mostly of Maui AJA champion Happy Hour. This season the team was made up of seven players from league champion Daimyo, six from Happy Hour, two from Asahi and one from Wailuku.
Maui’s other state AJA titles came in 2008 (Daimyo), 1988 (Kahului) and 1961 (Puunene). The state tournament dates back to 1930.
Brent Fukagawa, the Maui All-Stars head coach this season, was a player on the 2008 championship team.
“Being part of this weekend, it was just an awesome weekend of competitive baseball with a great group of guys,” Fukagawa said Wednesday. “Couldn’t have asked for anything more. You know, from back when I played, that was special, that was one of the first wins that we had for Maui in a long time. And to come back out now, you know, win it as a coach …
“I was (a coach) at Maui High for 13 years, so a lot of these young men I’ve coached through high school, either for or against them. Not to mention all the veterans, we had a bunch of them on the team this year and they all played a huge role as well.”
Jay Texeira, Barry Takahashi and Callen Beeson combined on the mound to beat Oahu, Beeson getting the win with a stellar performance of 6 2/3 innings in relief.
Chazz Ishikawa hit a tworun homer over the right field fence to put Maui on top 8-7 in the seventh inning after trailing 6-2 in the third inning. Brett Komatsu led Maui’s hitting attack, going 4 for 5 with a double and a triple.
In the championship game, Texeira and Jacob Chong combined on the mound — Chong pitched the final six frames to get the win.
Komatsu spearheaded the offense again, going 4 for 5 with a double and triple — his .800 average over the tournament earned him Batting Champ and MVP honors.
Maui AJA president Dean Yamashita said in an email to The Maui News: “Everyone contributed with some key hits and the bench played a big role on Sunday as well, driving in some runs and getting on base. The guys played hard and competed at a high level in all facets of the game.
“Winning back to back State Tournaments away from home, required a lot of character from these guys.”
Fukagawa was honored to be the coach of the team that also included Micah Jio, Kory Takamura, Edison Sakata, Ceejay Santos, Mo Lau Hee, Kai Watanabe, Jaylen Suda, Joey Castro, Jarrid Racadio and Joey Tam Ho.
Fukagawa, a 1998 Maui High graduate who is now 44 years old, said he was impressed with the way the veterans mixed with the youngsters on this team. “I’m just proud of this group of guys, not only for winning and bringing home the state title for the second year in a row, but for representing Maui the right way,” Fukagawa said. “They played hard up there, they played the game right. Just watching them play, the kids I coached through high school for four years, the kids I coached against in high school, there’s a bunch of them.
“There’s a bunch of Baldwin, King K, Maui High, you name them, they are all part of this team. We all come together and we put out a performance like this weekend — it’s unforgettable, man.”