The twisting, turning Interscholastic League of Honolulu baseball season will finally come to a winner-take-all conclusion today.

Regular season champion 'Iolani will face tournament champion Kamehameha at 2 p.m. at Ala Wai Field for the overall title and the ILH's top seed and first-round bye in next week's state tournament.

Kamehameha, ranked No. 2 in The Advertiser's statewide Top 10 poll of coaches and media, improved to 16-4 in league play and forced today's playoff by winning the tournament yesterday with a 6-4 victory at 'Iolani. The No. 3 Raiders (17-4) could have claimed all the marbles with a win, but Josh Wong's RBI single in the top of the sixth inning broke a 4-4 tie and Alika Pruett completed a five-hitter by shutting out 'Iolani over the final three innings.

"We treated this like the championship game," said Pruett, a senior right-hander who struck out six and walked two. "We're both gonna be in (the state tournament), but we want to win (the ILH)."

Kalei Hanawahine gave the Warriors a quick 1-0 lead with a one-out home run in the first inning and they extended it to 3-0 in the third after Kewby Meyer's RBI single to right field and Keanu Carmichael's sacrifice fly to left.

But the Raiders erupted for four runs in the fourth, after JR Bunda's RBI single to left, Reyn Nagamine's two-run single to right and Grant Iwamoto's squeeze bunt to score Bunda.

"All game, I didn't have my breaking ball, and against a team like 'Iolani — they were just teeing off on my fastball that inning," Pruett said.

Meyer tied it at 4-4 with a home run over the right field fence to lead off the sixth, and Arlie Johnson got aboard on a one-out single. After a flyout to left, Johnson advanced to third on Makana Ramie's single to center and scored on Wong's single to left.

Kamehameha got an insurance run in the seventh after Hanawahine reached on a fielder's choice, advanced to third on an infield single and error and scored Meyer's single to right.

"We did a good job stringing some hits together," Warriors coach Vern Ramie said.

The Raiders threatened in the bottom of the seventh, when Kela Marciel reached on a one-out error and advanced to second on a passed ball. With two outs, ILH home run leader Breland Almadova came to the plate, inducing a mound visit by Ramie.

"We knew Breland is a tough out, but (Ramie) told me to go at him as hard as possible," Pruett said. "He said it wasn't as big a deal if he got to first, because there was an open bag. He just said that if I missed (the location), miss properly."

On a 3-2 count, Almadova popped up to first base to end the game.

Ramie said he briefly considered intentionally walking Almadova, but decided instead to let Pruett pitch to him carefully.

"I thought about it (an intentional walk) for a second, but then I just told Alika to just make sure not to miss right down the middle of the plate," Ramie said. "We thought we would gamble a little bit, to nibble (at the strike zone) if we were ahead (in the count) but if he got behind then just pitch around him.

"Alika did a lot better job today spotting his fastball, and he got through some tough situations."

It was Pruett's second victory over 'Iolani in the past two weeks.

"He beat us last time, and he was tough again today," Raiders coach Dean Yonamine said. "The thing about him, he seems to get better as the game goes along."

Today's game will be 'Iolani's 11th in 15 days, and Kamehameha's fourth in the past eight; all of the other four leagues have finished their seasons. Both coaches said pitching depth is a concern with the state tournament approaching.

"You gotta think about next week, and it's going to be tough on whoever loses (today)," Ramie said. "You have to prepare for the worst. But both of us have used our (top) starters already, so it's going to be a battle of attrition, whoever's bullpen can come through. It'll be interesting to see."

Yonamine said he also is factoring in the state tournament preparation, but maintained the first priority is to try to win 'Iolani's first ILH title since 1997.

"You gotta consider (the state tournament), too," Yonamine said. "But we're gonna go hard for the ILH (title). It's right in front of us."

KAMEHAMEHA (16-4) 102 002 1 — 6 12 1

'IOLANI (17-4) 000 400 0 — 4 5 2

Alika Pruett and Keanu Carmichael; Sheldon Lee, Breland Almadova (6) and Grant Iwamoto. W — Pruett. L — Lee.

Leading hitters — Kamehameha: Kewby Meyer 3-4, home run, 3 RBIs; Kalei Hanawahine 2-4, home run; Pi'ikea Kitamura 2-4. 'Iolani: Reyn Nagamine 2 RBIs; Almadova 2-4.

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