Mid-Pacific followed the green lights all the way to the top of the ILH.
Nicole Lopez pulled a 3-0 pitch over the fence in right field for a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth and the Owls beat Kamehameha 8-6 at Mid-Pacific on Wednesday to pull into a tie with the Warriors for first place in the ILH.
"I knew if I took one it would be a strike, so I looked for it and hit it," Lopez said. "It’s up to us whether we take one or we hit and I knew she was going to come in for a strike. It was there, I could tell from her hand and it was pretty exciting."
Mid-Pacific coach Alan Inaba said he gave all of his girls the green light during preseason and most of them still have that freedom. Especially Lopez, who hits in the third spot.
"With her power, we are not going to restrict her by taking a strike away from her," Inaba said. "If she wants to go swing, go swing."
Mid-Pacific pitcher Kaili Ann Akimseu closed out the hard-hitting Warriors in the seventh with her first 1-2-3 inning of the game, striking out Brooke Sauer to end it. She gave up single runs in the first, second, fourth and fifth and two in the sixth.
But in the end, she was a little bit better than Kamehameha starter Christine Hipa, who beat Akimseu and the Owls 8-4 the first time they met this season. Hipa threw 134 pitches before being lifted, 70 of them strikes.
Akimseu threw 119 in her complete game; 71 of those were over the plate.
"She battled — a lot of it has to do with her confidence level," Inaba said. "When she’s feeling it she is on her game, but sometimes when she gets down it affects her a little bit. I think all of these close games are helping her."
Kamehameha took the lead in the top of the first on a single by Kalei Kaneshiro, but Mid-Pacific answered when it grabbed the bats and Jenna Kumabe led off with a home run. MPI went ahead later in the inning on an RBI single by Sarah Onishi.
"That was like a kick in the pants right there," Inaba said of Kumabe’s shot. "We lost to them twice last year. We lost to them once this year. It just let the team know we could score with them after they scored the first run."
Kamehameha tied the score in the top of the second on a leadoff home run by Ateisha Norton and kept piling on runs enough to lead 6-3 going into the bottom of the sixth. But these Owls had no doubt.
"We are fighters," Lopez said. "We don’t stop until the final out. We know there is seven innings, and when they were ahead of us, we knew that we could come back."
The Owls have won six games in a row after starting the year
2-3, while the Warriors have lost two in a row for the first time this year after losing an equally wild one, 13-10, to ‘Iolani on Monday.
"Believe me, it’s not what we are looking for," Kamehameha coach Aloha Yamaguchi said about the high-scoring games. "We score a good amount of runs. We just have to hold them down, whether it is our defense or our pitching. But no worries, we’ll be good. No worries."
Mid-Pacific takes its winning streak into Monday at home against Pac-Five, while the Warriors play Sacred Hearts the same day. Each team has three games left in the regular season, with the Owls and Warriors tied with Maryknoll at the top at 8-3 and ‘Iolani just a game behind at 7-4. Punahou is two games back at
At Mid-pacific
| Kamehameha (8-3) |
110 |
112 |
0 |
— |
6 |
11 |
1 |
| Mid-pacific (8-3) |
200 |
015 |
X |
— |
2 |
4 |
5 |
Christine Hipa, Kama Dung (6) and Rachel Ogasawara. Kaili Ann Akimseu and Taylor Ann Oda.
W–Akimesu. L–Hipa.
Leading hitters–KS: Hipa 3-4, RBI; Ateisha Norton 2-2, HR, RBI; Kiana Burnett 2-3, RBI. MPI: Jenna Kumabe 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Sarah Onishi 2-3, RBI; Lia Nakamoto 2-4, 2 2bs, RBI.
No. 2 Maryknoll 9, No. 7 Punahou 2
Shearyna Labasan homered and struck out six batters in a complete-game victory to lead the Spartans to a victory over the Buffanblu.
At Punahou
| Maryknoll (8-3) |
510 |
002 |
1 |
— |
9 |
10 |
3 |
| Punahou (6-5) |
000 |
101 |
0 |
— |
2 |
4 |
5 |
Shearyna Labasan and Kasey Magdadaro. Nicole Nishizawa, Lauren Mooney (7) and Sarah Buck.
W–Labasan. L–Nishizawa.
Leading hitters–MS: Erica Inagaki 3-4, run, 2b, 4 RBIs; Mylee Enos 2-3, 2b, run; Labasan 2-4, HR, 2 runs, RBI.
No. 8 ‘iolani 21, Pac-five 3, 5 Innings
The Raiders pounded out 22 hits in a rout of the Wolfpack.
At Ala Wai Community Park
| ‘Iolani (7-4) |
381 |
54 |
— |
21 |
22 |
1 |
| Pac-five (3-8) |
110 |
10 |
— |
3 |
8 |
4 |
Vevesi Liilii, Alyssa Espiritu (5) and Cassie Ho, Macy Uyehara (5). Khaliah Kahoano, Megan Yoshioka (4) and Karley Ann Yoshioka, Shazzareigh Nakoa Chung (4).
W–Liilii. L–Kahoano.
Leading hitters–Iol: Ashlyn Okamoto 4-4, HR, 3 RBIs, 3 runs; Ho 3-5, 3b, 5 RBIs; Uyehara 3-4, 2b, 3 RBIs, 2 runs; Spencer Oda 2-2, RBI, 2 runs; Taylor Garcia-Perreira 2-3, 2 RBIs; Espiritu 2-3, 2 2b, 2 runs.
