“Emphatic” didn’t do it justice on Thursday.
A first state softball title for Leilehua as a follow-up today? That might.
Kamryn Kamakaiwi tossed a two-hitter with no walks in five dominant innings, Alyssa Asuncion went 3-for-3 and drove in five runs, and the mighty Mules routed OIA West rival Mililani 13-0 in the DataHouse/HHSAA softball championships at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“It’s crazy,” said Kamakaiwi, who went to her changeup and screwball to induce a series of groundouts and pop-ups. “We’ve never come this far. We’re not trying to get too much into our heads. We just have to focus on the next game.”
Leilehua, under first-year head coach Wendell Au, faces Punahou at 7 p.m. at RWSS for the potential breakthrough.
This century — until Thursday — the Mules had always bowed out in the state semifinals (2002, 2011, 2014). They lost in the final in 1981 (Kailua), 1987 (Kamehameha) and 1988 (Kailua).
“I think it’s everything,” Au said. “Once you make it up to this point, you try to leave everything out there. … Hat’s off to all the teams that have done it before — Mililani, Campbell, all the teams. Because you need a start to build that culture and to me this is a start.”
Leilehua (14-4) blew Thursday’s rivalry game wide open with a nine-run third inning, during which Asuncion launched a three-run bomb over the center-field fence. The Mules sent 14 batters to the plate in the frame and tallied eight of their 14 hits.
“We wanted to keep the scoring up just in case something happens,” Asuncion said.
Katie Carlos (fourth inning) and Kayla Bello (fifth) singled as the only hits for the Trojans (9-10). Meanwhile, Kaena Nistal, Brandi Leong and Gwen Maeha each drove in a pair for the Mules.
“Leilehua, they came out hot, they came out swinging the bats,” Mililani coach Rose Antonio said. “They’re a great team over there, one of the top teams in the state. They have all the tools.”
Mililani upset Leilehua 5-3 in the teams’ first meeting March 10. Leilehua responded with an 11-0, five-inning win on April 17, just prior to the OIA tournament, in which Leilehua finished third.
“Definitely,” Antonio said of improvement on Leilehua’s part. “They’re more disciplined at the plate. They’re hitting their pitch that they want to hit. The pitching, they keep batters off balance, and that’s what you need. They’ve got three good pitchers over there, three or four.”
Offensively, they’ve been just as good. So far, no one in the state tournament has been able to contain the Mules to single digits.
Leilehua got its tournament started Tuesday with a 12-1 rout of Baldwin. It followed that up by topping ILH champion Maryknoll 10-5 in Wednesday’s quarterfinals behind a huge game from Nistal.
