Kailua High graduate Rodney "Bruddah" Choy Foo had two RBIs — the tying and go-ahead runs — as North Shore defeated Waikiki, 5-1, last night to capture the Hawaii Winter Baseball championship before a Les Murakami Stadium crowd of 3,783 — the largest of the season.

Joe Thatcher (2-1) pitched 4 1/3 innings in relief of starter Blake Eager to lead the Honu (19-17). Thatcher, who was named the MVP of the game, allowed one hit with three strikeouts.

Losing pitcher Hirotaka Egusa (2-1) was charged with three runs, one unearned, in 2 1/3 innings of relief for the BeachBoys (20-17), the East champion. Starter Atsuhi Nohmi left the game with a 1-0 lead after pitching three-hit ball over five innings with seven strikeouts for Waikiki.

With the score tied 1-1 in the eighth, the Honu's Lorenzo Cain singled to right with one out and reached third when Dustin Martin reached on second baseman Eric Young Jr.'s fielding error.

Choy Foo then drilled a double just off left fielder Sebastier Boucher's glove to score Cain. Martin had to hold up, reaching only third because he had to see if Boucher would make the catch. Mike Carp then flared a single to right to score Boucher and send Choy Foo to third and end the night for Egusa. Andrew Johnston then retired Drew Butera on a pop to shortstop and Blake DeWitt on a grounder.

The Honu tagged Johnston for two insurance runs in the ninth on a two-run single by Cain.

The BeachBoys broke a scoreless deadlock in the bottom of the fourth on Mark Minicozzi's two-out, solo home run to right. Minicozzi's fifth homer of the season tied him for the league lead with West Oahu's Yasushi Iihara. It came after Young led off with a walk against Eager, but was caught stealing. Nate Schierholtz then grounded out to first before Minicozzi drilled an 0-2 pitch to give Waikiki a 1-0 lead.

Waikiki squandered a golden opportunity to score in the fifth. Reed Eastley led off with a triple to center. With the infield playing in, Chris Nelson flied out to shallow center, freezing Eastley at third. Ian Desmond then grounded out to third, with Eastley holding. Eager was then pulled for Thatcher, who struck out Boucher to end the inning.

The Honu tied it in the sixth against Egusa, who replaced Nohmi to start the inning. Darren Ford beat out a grounder to second for a single and reached second when Cain reached on a bunt single to third. Both advanced on Martin's sacrifice. Choy Foo's ground out to second scored Ford to tie the score at 1. Carp grounded out to first to strand the runner at third.

North Shore also blew a scoring chance in the seventh. Drew Butera led off with a double to right against Egusa, who then struck out DeWitt. Butera took third on Xavier Paul's flare single to left, but Jonathan Tucker grounded to second for an inning-ending double play.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann sang Honolulu City Lights in lieu of Take Me Out To the Ball Game during the seventh-inning stretch.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.