Excitable in the circle, Pearl City pitcher Tyanna “Peanut Butter” Kaaialii sensed the importance to remaining calm early in her start on Thursday.
The Chargers senior surrendered a home run on her eighth delivery against Lahaianaluna in a quarterfinal game in the DataHouse/HHSAA Division I Softball Championships. She settled down to shut out the third-seeded Lunas the rest of the way as the Chargers advanced to the semifinals for the second straight year with a 6-1 win at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“It was a lot of refocusing and keeping my composure,” Kaaialii said.“I started letting things get to me, but my dad was helping me stay focused. Being older I’ve had enough experience to understand how to keep myself composed.”
After giving up the first-inning homer to Lahainaluna sophomore Nohili Hong, Kaaalii — who often punctuates deliveries with a primal yell — held the MIL champions to three hits over the next six innings and struck out seven in a complete-game victory.
“We were struggling trying to find stuff she could throw accurately,” Pearl City coach Chad Obara said. “It was kind of a struggle today, but we figured out a way to get it done.”
Lahainalua senior Taylor Asio contained the Pearl City offense for the first three innings, but the Chargers broke loose in a six-run fourth to give Kaaialii ample cushion to earn her second win of the tournament.
“You kind of deflate a little bit when you’re up 1-0 for three innings and give up that one bad inning,” Lahainaluna coach Lei Nakamura said. “But it was only the fourth inning, so we had three more innings to come back. But it was hard for them to pump some air back into their self-esteem.”
Chargers shortstop Darian Obara sparked the outburst with her second double of the game. Ninth-place hitter Taylor Shigeta’s two-run double highlighted the Pearl City rally, catcher Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi drove in two runs with a single and a bases-loaded walk and the Chargers sent 12 batters to the plate in a six-hit attack.
“I thought we were (hitting) her pretty good prior to that and just kind of put everything together in that one inning,” Chad Obara said.
Coach Obara credited the Chargers’ ability to “stay in the moment” for keeping them on track throughout the season, an approach they’ll take into today’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal game at RWSS.
“I think it’s a little bit hard to stay focused sometimes. Naturally as a 17-year-old woman we tend to think about 30,000 things at one time,” Kaaialii said. “It may be hard but we have to come through and if we want that championship we have to make sure we stay focused.”
AT RAINBOW WAHINE SOFTBALL STADIUM
Pearl City (12-3) 000 600 0 — 6 10 3
Lahainaluna (12-3) 100 000 0 — 1 4 0
Tyanna Kaaialii and Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi. Taylor Asio and Braylee Tovio-Asato. W—Kaaialii. L—Asio.
Leading hitters—Pearl City: Darian Obara, 2-2, 2 2B, RBI; Yamaguchi, 2-3, 2 RBIs; Noel Saunders, 2-4; Bryanna Passi, RBI; Taylor Shigeta, 2B, 2 RBIs. Lahainaluna: Nohili Hong, HR; Ka’aina Kalanikau, 2B.
