Punahou puts down
Kamehameha

It is quite apparent that the powers that be in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu aren't much for anticipation.

After watching Punahou and Kamehameha play a 21-inning marathon during last year's regular season, and then to a 1-1 tie in their state-tournament third-place game, the ILH decided against waiting for another memorable tilt.

Instead the league decided to cut straight to the chase, pitting the two squads against each other on opening day of the 2004-05 season, with visiting Punahou defeating the defending ILH champion Warriors 4-2 yesterday in Kapalama.

The game lived up to its billing, with a pair of big hits and a gutty pitching performance by returning league Player of the Year Sarah Weisskopf lifting the Buffanblu to the hard-fought victory.

Besides going the distance, scattering eight hits while striking out four and walking one, Weisskopf also provided one of the game's biggest hits, adding an insurance run for her squad with an RBI double to left-center in the fifth inning.

Punahou's other big blow came from senior right fielder Adrienne Tanaka, who belted a solo homer in the top of the fourth.

"We really wanted to go after them from the start," Weisskopf said. "The last time we were here we went 21 innings, so we knew we'd be in a fight from the first inning to the seventh, since Kamehameha's such good competitors."

The Warriors took an early lead in the second inning, when Dara Padaguan scored on a fielder's choice off the bat of designated player Hoku Nohara after a strange series of events.

After shortstop Kaui Tom was hit by a Weisskopf pitch to start the inning, Padaguan got the Warrior rally going when she singled down the right field line on a slash bunt. Tom was erased attempting to advance to third on the play. Padaguan made it to second on the throw to third, and advanced another base when Punahou could not get a handle on the ball, setting up Nohara for her RBI.

The visitors answered with a run in the third, and used Tanaka's blast and a two-run fifth -- highlighted by Weisskopf's double -- to distance themselves from Kamehameha, 4-1.

The Warriors put together a rally in the bottom of the seventh, scratching back for another score on Lauae Emmsley's two-out double to left. But Weisskopf, as she did all day, bent but did not break, retiring Liane Horiuchi on a grounder to second for the final out of the game.

Kamehameha received a solid complete-game performance from ace Noe Esperas. Esperas worked ahead in the count all day, tossing first-pitch strikes to 22 of the 31 batters she faced.

"If Punahou is not THE best team this year, they're pretty close." Warrior coach Ty Sing Chow said. "Noe carried most of the load for us last year and pitched well for us today, but with a strong team like that, it's a game of inches. Sometimes you get the inch and sometimes you don't."