Slap-hitting Fabella wins it for Mililani with a walk-off home run

Justine Fabella usually can’t help but smile when Mililani coach Rose Antonio gives her the sign to swing away.

There were a whole lot of smiles in the Mililani dugout after Fabella, normally a slap hitter, took a full cut and launched a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Trojans a 4-2 win over Campbell on Thursday.

"I thought it was just a fly ball to the outfield," Fabella said. "I still can’t believe it because that never happened to me before."

Fabella’s two-run homer — the junior shortstop’s first of her high school career — kept the Trojans perfect in the OIA Red West softball standings at 10-0.

A half inning earlier, emotion and momentum had jumped over to the first-base dugout when Campbell senior Summer Palipti hit a two-out, two-run homer to tie the game.

Kanani Lanias led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and was sacrificed to second. After a flyout, Fabella fell behind 1-2 before sending the next pitch well over the left-field fence.

"She’s a slapper but she hit for power and it showed," Antonio said. "We had two outs, a runner in scoring position, I told her just go up there and hit."

Fabella certainly did, putting her extra work with the bat to use.

"I was just looking for a base hit," said Fabella, who was given the ball by one of the team parents. "I’ve been practicing throwing my hands out there. I’ve been practicing hitting so much and it was about time."

The homer gave Mililani freshman Aubree Kim a complete-game victory with 10 strikeouts. She struck out the first seven batters she faced then stranded seven Campbell runners on base from the third to sixth innings.

Joen Baker gave Kim a lead in the bottom of the first with a two-run double to right center. Palipti then held the Trojans scoreless over the next five innings to keep Campbell (4-5) within reach.

Kim got the first two outs of the seventh and Campbell leadoff hitter Tiana Rosario was down to her last strike before lining a single to right field. Palipti then tied the game with her blast to left field.

"Summer kept us in the game that last at-bat," Campbell coach Michael Hermosura said. "In fact she kept us in the game from the second inning. She’s our workhorse and she’s going to be our workhorse until she goes to college."

Palipti was one strike away from sending the game into extra innings, but Fabella didn’t let it get that far.

"She made an adjustment and that was an inside pitch and she put the barrel on the ball," Hermosura said. "She’s a tough player. They’re all tough."