Punahou has won the past three Wally Yonamine Foundation/HHSAA Baseball Championships, and at the heart of all three was senior designated hitter Bucky Aona.

This past season, with the nucleus of the previous two championship teams having graduated, Aona stepped it up a notch and led a young offense that took some time to develop.

He batted .468 with three home runs and 25 RBIs in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, leading the Buffanblu to their second straight ILH regular-season title.

"Without Bucky, (we) would have finished in the middle of the pack in the ILH," said Punahou coach Eric Kadooka. "(He was the) best hitter in the league, top hitter in the state. No one else has these credentials to match Bucky's performance this year, or over the last four years."

Other coaches, scouts and members of the media agreed, as Aona was the near unanimous choice of a nine-person panel that selected him as The Advertiser's All-State Player of the Year.

That is a huge compliment considering it was based almost entirely on offense as Aona played designated hitter most of the time.

But that's how good a slugger he was.

Aona's ability to hit for power and consistency to all fields was always respected, but he especially was dangerous in clutch situations. He went 2 for 4 with a double and four RBIs to help Punahou hold off upset-minded Pac-Five, 11-9, in a late regular season contest.

In a special playoff for the ILH regular season title, Aona went 2 for 2 with one RBI to help the Buffanblu edge Iolani, 4-3.

And at the state tournament, Aona went 3 for 4 with three RBIs in a first-round victory over Kailua, then went 3 for 5 with one RBI in a nine-inning, 4-3 win over Kamehameha in the championship game.

For the tournament, he was 9 for 14 (.643) with four RBIs.

Aona is joined on the Advertiser's All-State first team by two Buffanblu teammates, senior second baseman Maika Murashige and sophomore utility player Jeeter Ishida. Iolani also placed three players on the first team — freshman first baseman Reyn Nagamine, senior outfielder C.J. Johnson and senior pitcher Wally Marciel.

Kaiser, with senior third baseman Colby Ho and senior outfielder Scott Uehara, was the only other school to place multiple players on the first team.

Others selected to the first team are Baldwin senior shortstop Kalehua Moniz, Mid-Pacific senior outfielder Adam Tamashiro, 'Aiea senior catcher Tripper Chung and Kamehameha junior pitcher Kapono Chang.

Nagamine is the first freshman since Moloka'i pitcher Ikaika Lester in 1999 to be named to the Advertiser's All-State first team. In nine of the Raiders' 17 ILH games, Nagamine either got multiple hits, at least one extra-base hit or drove in a run.

Murashige was a near-unanimous choice at second base. He batted .327 in ILH play, with 18 RBIs and 12 walks from the leadoff position. In a special playoff for the league's regular-season title, Murashige went 2 for 3 with the go-ahead RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the six inning to help Punahou defeat Iolani, 4-3.

Ho, the O'ahu Interscholastic Association's Eastern Division Player of the Year, batted .421 with seven doubles, two triples, one home run and 21 RBIs in 14 league games. His on-base percentage was .577 and his slugging average was .789. In 52 plate appearances, he had zero strikeouts.

Ho also played stellar defense at third base and helped the Cougars go 9-1 for a share of the East title.

Moniz was a leader for a Baldwin team that won the Maui Interscholastic League championship despite an unexpected coaching change in the offseason. Batting leadoff, he hit .310 with four stolen bases, and his fielding percentage was .931.

When not playing shortstop, Moniz also was one of the league's top pitchers, tossing two no-hitters, including a 12-strikeout performance against Moloka'i.

Johnson also was a multi-talented force for Iolani, pitching in key games when not playing center field. He batted .370 in the ILH, with four doubles, two triples, five home runs, seven walks and 21 RBIs. Johnson's on-base percentage was .451, and his slugging average was .796. He also made five assists from center field.

Tamashiro was a steadying force for MPI, batting .473 with 21 RBIs while batting third and playing center field.

"He was our best guy," Owls coach Dunn Muramaru said. "Without him, I don't know if we would win any games."

Uehara batted .537 in the OIA, with 12 RBIs, five stolen bases and four sacrifice bunts from the No. 2 spot in the order while providing outstanding defense in center field.

Chung was the rare catcher who batted leadoff. He hit over .450 with consistency and power.

"He was aggressive at the plate, but you knew he was going to put the ball in play and wasn't going to strike out," Na Ali'i coach Ryan Kato said.

Chang and Marciel were the aces for their respective staffs. Chang pitched in most of Kamehameha's crucial games this season, including the ILH tournament final in which he tossed five-plus shutout innings to help the Warriors win, 1-0, to clinch a surprising state tournament berth.

Chang also threw three shutout innings of relief to help Kamehameha rally past Kaiser, 4-3, in a state tournament quarterfinal.

Marciel tossed a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts against Damien, a two-hitter against Pac-Five and a pair of four-hitters against Kamehameha and Mid-Pacific. The Kamehameha victory was a 1-0 shutout. He also batted third and was one of the ILH's most feared hitters.

Ishida was selected as the first team utility player after playing third base, first base and pitcher. He hit two home runs at Aloha Stadium and went 3-1 as a pitcher with a 1.11 earned run average in 38 innings, including three complete games.

Ishida was named Most Outstanding Player of the state tournament.

Kadooka was named Coach of the Year after guiding Punahou to a third straight state crown with four sophomores playing key roles.

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.