FL MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM Kauai's Jaezelle Balilea slid into first base ahead of the throw to Pac-Five's Shannon Lee at first base yesterday. Balilea was safe on the play but the Wolfpack went on to win the title.

Wolfpack win title as a team

With Pac-Five's other two seniors taking care of a momentous obligation of their own, Britney Hagihara made sure they'd have even more reason to celebrate last night.

Hagihara's two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning sent the Wolfpack to a 4-2 win over Kauai yesterday in the final of the DataHouse/HHSAA Division II State Softball Championship at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

There was little time to let the victory soak in though as a bunch of players rushed across Dole Street to congratulate teammates Leeann Lariosa and Chanel Casamina on their graduation from University High and share the news that the Wolfpack had won their second state title in three years.

"They were screaming," said sophomore Angie Yoshizu, whose RBI double tied the game in the sixth inning.

Hagihara followed Yoshizu's hit with a looping single into left field to drive in the go-ahead runs and the Wolfpack held off a Kauai rally in the seventh to seal the win.

"This is the best one," said coach Randy Oyama in rating his three state titles. "It was intense, we were losing and they fought back."

UHS' graduation ceremony was scheduled for the same time as the championship game at nearby Andrews Amphitheater, meaning Wolfpack pitcher Leeann Lariosa -- who won Pac-Five's first three games of the tournament and homered in Friday's semifinal win -- and Chanel Casamina would miss the championship.

But their teammates came through as Pac-Five became the only two-time winner of the Division II title, adding to the crown the Wolfpack captured in 2006.

"I tried to keep up the energy level and remind everybody that we're doing this not only for us but for the two who aren't here," Hagihara said. "(Lariosa) works so hard for us. She's always been there whenever we needed her. We wanted to finish it for her."

Said Oyama: "You can't replace an Annie Lariosa, but the girls came in and did their jobs and it worked out for the best."

With Lariosa out, sophomore Sheridan Mahelona started for Pac-Five and tossed a complete game, scattering nine hits and allowing two unearned runs.

"I was trying to calm down a lot," Mahelona said. "I just kept breathing and saying, 'I can do this.'"

Mahelona's seven-inning performance was "a miracle in itself," said her father, David, considering she was diagnosed with lupus three years ago. She had to sit out a month early in the season due to the condition and had worked her way back to action after dropping 20 pounds.

Mahelona kept the Wolfpack close after defensive miscues led to the unearned runs in the first and third innings as Kauai took a 2-1 lead.

With the Wolfpack running out of outs, Keline Yoshimura led off the sixth with a double down the third-base line and was sacrificed to third by Joedee Lovell. Samantha Ford then reached on an error, while Yoshimura stayed at third.

Yoshizu followed with a hard grounder that caromed off the glove of a diving Jessica Iwata at shortstop and rolled into left field, allowing Yoshimura to score the tying run. Hagihara then looped a single over third, giving Pac-Five its first lead of the game.

"(The early errors) could change the momentum of the ballgame, but to their credit they hung in there and when they got their opportunity they made the most of it," Oyama said.

But it wasn't over yet.

Kauai put the tying runs on base in the top of the seventh as Shereen Doi led off with a walk and pinch hitter Carly Matsumoto's singled to center. But the Wolfpack turned a double play and after a single by Krystal Ijima, Wailana Borrero's fly ball to right-center fell just short of the fence and into the glove of Chante Tesoro to end the game.

"They made big plays at the end," Kauai coach Darrell Borrero said after the Red Raiders' second straight runner-up finish in the state tournament. "Offensively they had the timely hits and defensively they made the big plays."