Kamehameha let Mysha Sataraka victimize them once. The Warriors weren’t about to let her do it a second time.

Brandi-Lei Smith finished up a gutty performance by forcing Punahou’s Thalen Masada to pop up to third with the bases loaded to give Kamehameha a 6-3 win over Punahou at Punahou’s softball field on Friday.

Smith walked Sataraka intentionally with first base open to set up the showdown. She won her first two clashes with Sataraka but lost the third, when the Punahou shortstop hit a towering home run to right field. She got no such chance with the game on the line in the seventh.

“We know Mysha is a huge threat, especially offensively,” Kamehameha coach Aloha Yamaguchi said. “She can do great things whether it is her first at-bat or her last. If we can keep her from hurting us we have to do it.”

Smith forced Sataraka to pop out to right field in her first two at-bats and limited the Buffanblu to five hits, two of them to leadoff hitter Reina Furuya. She benefited from a weird double play in the sixth when Kylie Popovich tried to move a runner from first to second with a bunt but reached when Smith bobbled the ball. No matter, the Warriors threw the ball to third to get Arianna Hashimoto trying to take the extra base, then caught Popovich trying to do the same at second base.

The Warriors moved into a tie with the Buffanblu at 12-3 in the ILH, a game behind first-place Mid-Pacific. Kamehameha wraps up the regular season on Tuesday with a game against St. Francis, while Punahou hosts Mid-Pacific the same day. The second spot in the standings gets an automatic berth, while the third-place team has to win a tournament among the ILH’s other teams to get in.

“Give them credit, they hit the ball hard,” Punahou coach Bob Makahilahila said. “We just have to learn how to come back and play a good game on Tuesday.”

Kamehameha jumped on Punahou early, scoring three runs in the first on a single by Kaya Naiwi for two and a single by Misty Hoohuli for another. They scored single runs in the second and third and had 14 hits, only going down in order against Punahou pitcher Jaci Young once, in the top of the seventh. The Warriors left seven runners on base and ran into outs on the bases two other times. The bottom third of the order went 6-for-10, with Reyna Ae a perfect 3-for-3 to load things up for the top of the order.

“She has had a season that is a little up and down,” Yamaguchi said. “Like our whole team has struggled with consistency. When she is on, when she is seeing it early, she can hit it hard.”

The last time the teams played it took nine innings to settle a winner, with Punahou coming out ahead 4-2. Sataraka had a home run in that game as well. Memories of the last meeting made Kamehameha’s big first inning on Friday so crucial. Plus, who knows, Mid-Pacific might have been watching.

“It is important to let everyone know, not only the opponent but who we got out here (watching), that we come to play,” Yamaguchi said. “We only control what we can control, but we want everyone to know that we won’t back down.”