Running on empty, Young lifts Punahou

Jaci Young admitted she didn’t have much left in the tank in the late innings on Thursday.

But it was just enough to help push Punahou into the Division I softball state tournament.

Young struck out 11 and the host Buffanblu rallied to a 5-3 win over Maryknoll in the final of the ILH postseason tournament, securing the league’s final state tournament berth.

“I think I was running on E,” Young said. “I was getting pretty tired, but the defense had my back, so that made it a lot easier. The last three outs was all them. I just had to put the ball in play.”

Young is among the Punahou seniors who will make their fourth appearance in the state tournament, which opens Tuesday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The Buffanblu join league champion Kamehameha as the ILH’s representatives.

Punahou (15-3) earned the return trip, thanks to a five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth after Maryknoll had taken a 2-0 lead in the top of the inning.

“That’s what makes this team so special, nothing stops them from coming back,” said Punahou assistant coach Clyde Freitas, who ran the team while head coach Bob Makahilahila is on the mainland.

Punahou’s last loss was a 4-0 defeat to Maryknoll on March 27, when the Spartans beat Young. But she asserted control early in Thursday’s rematch by striking out eight over the first four innings.

“She was a different woman on the mound today,” Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said. “She came out with a lot of adrenaline.”

Tamia Hirano was credited with Maryknoll’s first hit to lead off the fifth inning. She was sacrificed to second and broke for third with two out. Hirano was initially called out, but the Maryknoll coaches argued that the ball came loose and the call was reversed after a meeting of the umpires.

Given new life in the inning, the Spartans took the lead on Bree Soma’s single to center field, and Shearyna Labasan followed with another RBI single.

Thalen Masada answered for Punahou with an RBI single and was sacrificed to second. When Nicole Nishizawa’s grounder to shortstop was bobbled, Masada made the turn around third and beat the throw to the plate to tie it.

Another error on Young’s line drive allowed the go-ahead run to score and Arianna Hashimoto’s two-run single gave Punahou a 5-2 lead.

“It felt so good, because I was struggling earlier,” Hashimoto said. “When I saw the pitch, I just took it up the middle.”

Maryknoll cut into the deficit on Kasey Magadadaro’s RBI single, and the Spartans loaded the bases with two out. But Young preserved the Punahou lead with her 11th strikeout.

Young, who threw 143 pitches in a win over ‘Iolani on Wednesday, retired the Spartans in order in the seventh, ending the game with a groundout on her 109th pitch.

“She said she wanted to finish,” Freitas said. “I don’t want to take the ball out of her hand. She’s done it for us the whole year, I feel I owed that to her. She did a real fantastic job for us this year.”

At Punahou
Maryknoll (13-5)    000    021    0    —    3    5    4
Punahou  (15-3)    000    050    x    —    5    6    0
Shearyna Labasan and Carolann Toyama. Jaci Young and Kylie Popovich. W—Young. L—Labasan.
Leading hitters—Maryknoll: Labasan, RBI; Tamia Hirano, 2-3; Kasey Magdadaro, RBI; Bree Soma, RBI. Punahou: Thalen Masada, RBI; Vanessa Va‘a, 2-4; Arianna Hashimoto, 2 RBIs.