Saint Louis has deservedly been renowned as a great-hitting baseball team all season, but pitching and defense are what have propelled the Crusaders to their first Wally Yonamine Foundation State Championship game since 1989.

Kamakani Usui threw a four-hitter and Saint Louis played its third straight errorless game last night to hold off Pearl City, 2-1, before a semifinal crowd of about 1,800 at Les Murakami Stadium. The unseeded Interscholastic League of Honolulu runner-up Crusaders improved to 20-4 in the regular and postseason and will face No. 1 seed and four-time defending champ Punahou (15-5-1) at 7 in tonight's final.

The game — a rematch of the 1989 state final and ILH title game last Saturday, both won by Punahou — will be televised live statewide on OC16.

"It feels awesome, so great," said Usui, a 5-foot-9 senior right-hander. "We got in a little slump (during the ILH tournament) but now we're back in the groove, and we've come together as a team."

It took another strong pitching and defensive performance last night to get past No. 2 seed and O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Pearl City, which fell to 14-3. Saint Louis broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning when Lucas Gonsalves scored with two outs after Kyle Gonzaga was barely safe on an infield single to the right side.

The Chargers had tied the score in the top of the inning when Bryson Nakamura slammed a double to the wall in right-center field to score Kurt Poentis from first base.

But Usui induced a groundout to shortstop to leave Nakamura stranded at second, and the Crusaders converted a close 5-4-3 double play in the sixth after Carlton Tanabe reached on a leadoff walk. Usui then got a strikeout to end the inning, and retired the side in order in the seventh.

Pearl City left runners on third base in the second and third innings and stranded six overall.

"We had opportunities," Chargers' first-year coach Gary Nakamoto said, "but we couldn't get the timely hits, and that's what carried us all season. But Saint Louis is a good team; our kids have nothing to be ashamed of, losing to them."

The Crusaders took a 1-0 lead in the second inning after Marcus Kimura led off with a single, stole second, took third on a flyout and scored on a wild pitch. They did not score again until two outs in the fifth, on Gonzaga's grounder that was fielded by first baseman Cory Yuh and thrown to pitcher Nakamura, who stepped on the bag a fraction of a second later than Gonzaga.

"Everybody says we can hit one through nine (in the order), but I give Nakamura credit, he kind of shut us down," Saint Louis coach Duane Fraticelli said. "We were just fortunate the ball bounced our way."

The Crusaders have allowed only one run and 10 hits in 21 tournament innings, and have made zero errors.

"I knew Pearl City could hit, so I just kept my pitches inside, down and low," said Usui, who had three strikeouts. "I let them put the ball in play, and my defense helped me out big time."

PEARL CITY (14-3) 000 010 0—1 4 2

SAINT LOUIS (19-4) 010 010 X—2 6 0

Bryson Nakamura and Carlton Tanabe. Anthony Usui and John Haina. W — Usui. L — Nakamura.

Leading hitters — Pearl City: Nakamura 1-2, double, RBI; Duane Kiyota 2-3. Saint Louis: Marcus Kimura 2-3, run; Lucas Gonsalves 1-2, run.

Read Wes' blog on prep sports at http://preptalk.honadvblog.com.