Baseball, girls basketball
By Pat Bigold
seasons open this week
Star-Bulletin
Spring unfolds this week with baseball and girls' basketball seasons opening in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.In basketball, there are two games set for tomorrow.
Kamehameha will face University High at Klum Gym at 6 p.m. while Mid-Pacific will be at Punahou at 6:30 p.m.
Iolani, the two-time defending league and state champion, will play its first game Friday against Maryknoll at Damien at 7:30 p.m.
The Raiders, early favorites to repeat at both levels, will be missing their electrifying blue-chip guard, Erin Stovall, a Street&Smith's preseason second-team All-American.
The 5-foot-7 Stovall, who has signed a letter of intent with nationally ranked Virginia, will be on a trip with the Iolani track and field team at the Beach Cities Invitational Meet in Huntington Beach, Calif., this weekend.
She will miss the Raiders' game against Maryknoll and Saturday's key matchup with the league's other major power, Punahou. Stovall also is due to miss Iolani's games against Mid-Pacific on April 4 and University High on April 5 when she travels to Hampton, Va., to play in the Nike All-American girls' basketball game.
Stovall led Woodbridge High (California) to a No. 6 ranking in USA Today last year. She shot better than 52 percent from the field and had 122 steals.
With Stovall absent, Iolani head coach Bernie Ching said he might start 5-1 Katie Mau at guard.
"She's a little dynamite," Ching said.
Iolani returns three starters from last season -- 5-8 junior guard-forward Karyn Fitisemanu, 5-6 senior forward Tiffany Ahuna and 5-6 senior forward Rebecca Pacheco.
The Raiders add 5-8 freshman center Jamie Liu and Stovall.
Punahou will also be without one its premier players this week.
Ki'i Spencer-Vasconcellos, a 5-6 senior point guard, sprained an ankle during a tournament in Honokaa and is still recovering.
When Spencer-Vasconcellos returns, she'll rejoin 5-7 senior guard Lisa Kowal. The pair form one of the state's most effective backcourt tandem.
Punahou will also welcome 1996 Big Island Interscholastic Federation all-star Onaona Miller, a 5-11 low-post player from Hilo, to the team.
But the Buffanblu will be missing some key players from last season -- Tehani Miyashiro and Lindsey Berg. Both opted not to play this season.
University High could play a role in the league race with returning veterans who have size: 5-8 senior Christine Pasqua, 6-0 senior Cherilani Melson, 5-10 junior point guard Kasey Tabar.
The Oahu Interscholastic Association girls will open their season with five games Tuesday.
Two-time defending league champion McKinley will host Kalaheo at 7 p.m.
Marjorie Nepo, a 1996 first-team OIA Eastern Division all-star, will lead the Tigers.
The ILH baseball season opens Saturday with four games at Aloha Stadium.
The matchup that will be attracting the pro scouts will be defending league champion Kamehameha against defending state champion Iolani at 4:30 p.m.
The game features top local draft prospect Dane Sardinha, a senior catcher for Kamehameha, as well as Iolani's Division I recruit, shortstop Keoni DeRenne (Arizona).
Both Sardinha and DeRenne are ranked among the nation's top 50 prep prospects by Street&Smith's.
In other ILH openers, Maryknoll will take on Mid-Pacific at 11 a.m., Damien will meet University High at 1:30 p.m., and St. Louis will face Punahou at 7 p.m.
The Buffanblu have two Division I recruits, first baseman Scooter Martines (Texas Tech) and right-handed pitcher Justin Wayne (Stanford).
Kamehameha, which recently upset nationally ranked (USA Today No. 25) New Hope High of Mississippi and snapped that team's 51-game win streak, is given a strong chance to repeat as league champion with a healthy Sardinha. But he has been nursing a sore shoulder lately and has not been able to catch. First base has been his position during recuperation.
The Oahu Interscholastic Association baseball season opens March 29 with four games at Aloha Stadium.
Castle is the three-time defending OIA Eastern Division champion and league champion. Aiea is the Western Division's defending champion.
TAAMU THIRD: Iolani's Ed Taamu currently has the third best prep discus throw (181 feet, 2 inches) in the nation this season.
The nation's best throw of 1997 is owned by Scott Mosier of Huntington Beach High (Calif.) -- 196-3. Taamu will compete at Mosier's campus in this weekend's Beach Cities Invitational, but word is that Mosier will out of town on a recruiting trip.
Erin Stovall, who also excels in the sprints and hurdles for Iolani, might race against Long Beach-Wilson's Kinshasa Davis in the Beach Cities Invitational 100. Davis clocked the nation's fastest 100 this year with a time of 11 seconds.