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Maryknoll put an end to Mid-Pacific’s late-season storybook journey.
Center fielder Nohea Hee launched two home runs in the first three innings and Kahilu McNicoll fired a three-hitter as the Spartans clinched the ILH’s second state-tournament berth with a 10-2 defeat of the Owls at Sand Island on Wednesday.
“It’s one of the best games we’ve played in a long time,” Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said. “We’re just peaking at the right time, in all facets. We made a few errors, but we picked ourselves up. You see that where basically they scored two and we came back with three. So, we feel confident that we’ll be a hard-to-beat team.”
Maryknoll hosts Kamehameha at Sand Island for the overall ILH title at 4 p.m. Friday. The winner gets the league’s seeded berth to the state tournament, while the loser must fight through a tougher path to go all the way.
MPI showed in recent days that anything is possible. The Owls went 0-12 in the ILH regular season but beat Punahou and ‘Iolani in succession last week to reach the final of the league playoffs.
“I was scared of this game,” Uekawa said. “The reason why is, if you look at their season, they might have been 10-run-ruled two or three times, but everything else they were in the game.”
The Spartans came out of the dugout with an edge — McNicoll did not allow a baserunner until Caitlin Taga’s one-out double in the fourth. Uekawa called it her best outing of the season.
“Today we came out here as a team knowing we can’t take Mid-Pac lightly. We knew that our defense and offense needed to work together,” McNicoll said. “I feel like mostly all my pitches were working today. I knew I had to do this for my team, because we’ve worked so hard to get here and I wasn’t just going to give it up now.”
The Spartans hung three runs on sophomore pitcher Lea Hanawahine in the first and third innings, thanks largely to Hee’s blasts to right center and left center, respectively.
Hee knew the first was gone when she made contact. On the second, she wasn’t so sure.
“Early in the season I was kind of slumping, so I just took more pitches and learned it’s OK to get deep in the count,” she said.
With Maryknoll leading 7-0 and threatening to make it a shortened mercy-rule game, the Owls capitalized on some Spartan mistakes to get on the board in the top of the fifth. Michaela Fonoti smacked a leadoff single and reached second when Maryknoll misplayed a rundown. Four batters and two errors later, Kiana Oshiro came home, as did Marissa Nishihara when Beyli Correa forced some rundown indecision between first and second.
But Maryknoll put it away in the bottom of the frame with Kanoe Tanigawa’s RBI single to center, followed by Logan Carlos’ two-run single up the middle two batters later.
A second-inning play demonstrated Mid-Pacific’s tenacity. Hanawahine took a sharp comebacker from Tanigawa off her body. She fielded the ball and threw out Tanigawa, then staggered over to the third-base line and fell on her back. To the relief of her team, she was back on her feet after a few uneasy moments.
“Definitely proud of the way our team finished off battling Punahou, and then to ‘Iolani,” MPI coach Aloha Yamaguchi said. “Tough one today, but it also shows that Maryknoll really came out to play. … I wish them luck. But I believe this team has set a good foundation where the future is bright for our Mid-Pacific program.”
At Sand Island
>> Mid-Pacific (2-13) 000 020 0 — 2 3 0
>> Maryknoll (10-5) 313 030 x —10 13 2
Lea Hanawahine and Lia Nakamoto. Kahilu McNicoll and Baylie Kahele. W—McNicoll. L—Hanawahine.
Leading hitters—MPI: Caitlin Taga 2-3, 2b. Mryk: Kanoe Tanigawa 3-4; Logan Carlos 2-4, 3 RBIs; Nohea Hee 2-4, 2 HR, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Kaylah Santos 2b; Kiana Arcayena 2-4, 3b, 2 runs; Kahele 2-3.
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