St. Francis pitcher Brittany Akana had six strikeouts, no walks and gave up five hits against Waipahu yesterday as the Troubadours captured the Data House Division II State Softball Championship. See story below.
Mililani,
St. Francis
take titles
Freshman Makani Duhaylonsod
pitches the Trojans to a
5-3 victory over Kapolei
For much of the past decade, the road to the Oahu Interscholastic Association title has run through Mililani.
With four league crowns in the past seven years, the Trojans have long been among the class of Oahu's public school softball programs.
Having helped a number of players advance to the collegiate level to boot, the only jewel missing from Trojan coach Mike Okimoto's résumé has been the elusive state title.
After years of close calls and near misses, Mililani finally became a state champion last night with a 5-3 win over Kapolei at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, and it took a freshman to bring it home to Central Oahu.
First-year ace Makani Duhaylonsod went the distance for her fourth straight win of her first state tourney to lift the Trojans into the winner's circle. During the tournament, Duhaylonsod allowed just three earned runs while pitching all 28 of her team's innings.
"Makani really matured on the mound for us," Okimoto said. "During the year, she learned to take on the pressure of the varsity level, and she really came through for us."
Kapolei rallied for the first run of the game in the top of the second, when Champagne Paris snuck a single up the middle to drive in Kaili Smith from second base.
Smith opened the inning with a solid single up the middle. The Hurricane center fielder advanced to second on an errant throw by the Mililani infield on Tajia Acierto's grounder to first. After Duhaylonsod induced Malama Manuma into a soft fly out to center, Paris stepped in and rolled a chopper just beyond the reach of Trojan second baseman Casey Sugihara, to plate Smith.
Mililani was able to erase Acierto on the play when she was cut down on a throw by catcher Skye Virtudes. Duhaylonsod then retired Ashlynn Ashby to close the inning.
The Trojans came right back with a run of their own as Melissa Lehano battled through a long at-bat to score Virtudes on a sacrifice fly to center. Virtudes led off the rally when she jumped on Acierto's first offering and drilled it off the fence in left field.
Virtudes moved to third when Duhaylonsod rolled a soft grounder to first on the following at-bat. Kapolei's Manuma fielded the ball and threw across the diamond, but Virtudes slid in just ahead of the throw.
Lee kept Mililani on track in the bottom of the third, when she lined a 2-0 pitch over the wall in left for a solo home run. After Sugihara opened the inning by striking out, junior first baseman Lee came to the plate and worked her way into a hitters' count and got a hitters' pitch.
"I was really confident coming into this game," said Lee, who batted .615 in the state tournament. "I was ahead in the count and my coach gave me the green light. It was the third home run of my career, and my third off of Tajia, believe it or not."
Lee provided the bulk of the offense for Mililani, going 3-for-4 with the homer and two RBIs.
Mililani stayed aggressive in the fourth, jumping on three straight Acierto first pitches to open the frame. After Duhaylonsod grounded out to second, Samantha Bolosan and Lehano followed with base hits.
Ciera Senas loaded the bases when her bunt back to the pitcher's circle was fielded by Acierto, who looked to first to find no one covering the bag.
Sugihara then chopped a come-backer to Acierto, who threw home to retire Bolosan. Kapolei's catcher attempted to throw down to first to double up Sugihara, but her errant throw turned into foul territory and rolled all the way to the outfield, scoring both Senas and Lehano. Sugihara advanced all the way to third.
Lee came through with her second RBI of the night when she singled up the middle to give Mililani the 5-1 lead.
Kapolei battled back for a rally of their own in the fifth for a pair of runs on a bases-loaded walk to Smith and a single by Manuma. Duhaylonsod hurt her chances with an error and two walks in the inning, but escaped with the Trojans holding a two-run advantage.
"I was just focusing on letting them have small contact," Duhaylonsod said. "I felt some pressure on myself, but my defense helped my confidence a lot because I knew they had my back."
Kapolei failed to take advantage of a Mililani fielding error to start the top of the sixth due largely to a strange double play. Ashby led off by rolling over toward the right side of the infield, but the ball rolled through the fielder's legs to allow Ashby to reach.
Sheryl Robinol sacrificed to move Ashby, but Lee's back-door throw to second caught her off guard.
Sugihara ran Ashby toward third and tossed to Lehano for the tag. Duhaylonsod retired the next batter to bring Mililani within three outs of the title.
Duhaylonsod faced four batters in the seventh and recorded the final out on a grounder back to the mound.
"This is awesome," Okimoto said. "All the hard work for all those years and this was the year we did it. This is a real team. Everybody contributes and the kids are unreal."
| Kapolei (14-5) | 010 | 020 | 0 | -- | 3 | 11 | 3 |
| Mililani (16-3) | 011 | 300 | X | -- | 5 | 10 | 3 |
Tajia Acierto and Ashlyn Ashby, Kaili Smith (5). Makani Duhaylonsod and Skye Virtudes. W--Duhaylonsod. L--Acierto.
Leading hitters--Kap: Austi Paris 2-4, run; Smith 3-3, RBI; Malama Manuma 2-4, RBI. Mil: Ciera Senas 2-4, run; Dana Lee 3-4, HR.
|
Akana leads Troubadours
over Marauders
for D-II crown
Apparently, you don't need seniors to win championships.
With only underclassmen on its roster, St. Francis defeated Waipahu 4-1 last night to capture the Data House Division II State Softball Championship at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The victory provided St. Francis with its first state title in any sport andcapped off an amazing year for the Troubadours, who didn't have their own team last year. Due to a lack of players, they combined with St. Andrew's Priory and Hawaii Baptist Academy to form a team.
This season, they went their own way in order to compete for the D-II title.
"It has worked out well," Troubadours head coach Mark Glushenko said. "We only have three juniors and we had to rely on them not only as leaders, but as mentors. They were everything to this team."
However it was a sophomore pitcher, Brittany Akana, who came up big in last night's game. She gave up just five hits in seven innings with no walks and six strikeouts.
"We had a camp at the beginning of the season where we made our goals, and we had this as one of them, and it's nice to accomplish it," Akana said.
The Troubadours were able to take advantage of some critical fielding errors by the Marauders.
Jovan Hire gave St. Francis an early 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, scoring on back-to-back wild pitches by Marauders starter Tina Noga. But with a runner on third and one out, Noga recorded two straight strikeouts to end the Troubadours' threat.
"Tina's one of the best pitchers in the state and probably the hardest thrower," Glushenko said. "We knew we'd have to take advantage of any chances we got to score."
Waipahu managed to tie the score at 1-all in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Julianna Sooalo. But from that point on, it was all Akana, who responded by retiring the next 10 batters.
"She pitched a heck of a game," Marauders head coach Sheri Elarco said. "It just wasn't meant to be for us today."
St. Francis took the lead for good by scoring two runs in the fourth inning on a freak play. After a wild pitch scored one run, an errant throw to second allowed Hire to score her second run of the game all the way from first base.
"I knew the game was going to be close," Elarco said. "It just came down to who could take advantage of any mistakes and they did a great job."
Saint Francis made it 4-1 in the seventh as Sydney Kaneshiro delivered a clutch two-out RBI single to center to score Chelsea Nasimento.
Waipahu had one last chance in the bottom of the seventh as Noga led off with a single up the middle. But facing a three-run deficit, Noga was thrown out trying to steal second by Troubadours catcher Ashley Smith.
"That was a heck of a throw," Glushenko said. "And she's only a freshman."
"I have confidence in all of our girls," Akana said. "I don't get nervous because of it when runners are on base, but that sure made things easier."
Akana gave up one more hit before retiring Mercedes Kaleikini on a grounder to third for the game's final out.
"To tell you the truth, my head was buzzing," Glushenko said about accepting the championship trophy. "At the beginning of the year, I just wanted these girls to come together as a team. To have it end like this is just special."
And with nobody on the team graduating this season, Glushenko is already excited about next year.
"Hopefully nobody leaves and we can do it again," he said.
| Saint Francis (10-6) | 010 | 200 | 1 | -- | 4 | 7 | 1 |
| Waipahu (14-4) | 010 | 000 | 0 | -- | 1 | 5 | 3 |
Brittany Akana and Ashley Smith. Tina Noga and Krissaundra Noga. W--Akana. L--T. Noga.
Leading hitters--StF: Sydney Kaneshiro 2-4, 2 SBs, RBI; Smith 2-3, run, SB; Jovan Hire 2-3, 2 runs. Waip: T. Noga 2-3, run.
Division I third-place game
Pearl City 10, Kailua 4Sanoe Aina hit a home run and had five RBIs, and Marina Gusman-Brown went 4-for-4 and scored three runs as the Chargers exploded for eight early runs off of Surfriders pitcher Courtney Kessell and won the Division I third-place game.
Krystal Plunkett picked up the win for the Chargers, and also added two RBIs. Erin Guerrero was Kailua's top hitter, batting 2-for-4 while driving in two runs.
| Pearl City (15-4) | 260 | 002 | 0 | -- | 10 | 13 | 4 |
| Kailua (16-3) | 200 | 002 | 0 | -- | 4 | 6 | 1 |
Leading hitters--PC: Marina Gusman-Brown 4-4, 3 runs, 2 SBs; Plunkett 2-4, 2 RBIs; Sanoe Aina 2-5, HR, 5 RBIs. Kail: Guerrero 2-4, 2b, 2 RBIs.
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