By Kanoa Young
Staff Writer

Mid-Pacific Institute’s Junior Varsity baseball team grasped victory in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu for the first time since the 2017-2018 season.

Back on top after a few years’ break from the podium, Mid-Pacific’s JV baseball emerged triumphant in a 5-2 win when it mattered the most. The win came after a rough two losses to Kamehameha previously this season, cementing Mid-Pacific’s reputation as a place for baseball champions.

Against Kamehameha, the team was the underdog in the championships, but freshman Kyler Shojinaga was able to keep Kamehameha to zero runs. Shojinaga came in as a relief pitcher. By this point, Kamehameha had scored two runs, but Shojinaga was able to shut them down and help his team win.

“I had a great defense behind me. I came in with the lead, I just did my job and threw strikes and it all worked out,” Shojinaga said.

The team was full of hard work and determination just like Shojinaga, since they learned to trust in each other. Freshman Kade Gerboc-Chun saw a huge improvement in the team’s morale and cooperation throughout the season.

“Before, no one really was like certain about the things they did, no one really had much confidence. So as the season went on, we started to gain conviction, and started doing things with confidence,” Gerboc-chun said.

JV baseball head coach Alex Takemura believes that the team put in the time and effort to be successful.

“We were able to win because of the hard work the team put in. Also, we had a little bit of luck,” Takemura said.

Other than the luck players had, Takemura wanted athletes to trust him.

“Players just need to embrace their roles and trust in the plan,” Takemura said.

This strategy seemed to have worked for them, but the players worked on many different things during the season to get better.

Many players like Gerboc-Chun are turning to the weight room to improve strength during the off-season. He also wants to continue what they did to win.

“Just keep the same mindset and work on a lot of weight training, get stronger, hit the ball harder and harder,” Gerboc-Chun said.

With a new addition of hitting the weight room the athletes should come back stronger next year. But the players have many things to improve on and the coaches will have to make decisions to make the new team next year.

“[We plan on] getting stronger and faster, also filling up the spots [for next season], for the kids that are going to be moving up to the varsity,” Takemura said.

Players like sophomore Aaren Umemoto were a big part of the team and are prospective players for varsity next season. Umemoto hopes to see the underclassmen working hard the following season.

“Work hard and ask for help you might not always be the strongest one. I wasn’t, but I tried my best,” Umemoto said.