The Interscholastic League of Honolulu has an automatic second state-tournament berth in Division II softball, and indirectly, they could thank the Kapaa Warriors for this.

When six of 11 Kapaa players walked off the team on Mar. 30 following a three-hour meeting with principal Daniel Hamada and athletic director Greg Gonsalves, the dominoes fell immediately. The winless Warriors were already 0-4 going into a weekend doubleheader with Waimea. By closing shop for the season, that left the Kauai Interscholastic Federation with just two softball members, Kauai and Waimea.

HHSAA by-laws state that a league must have a minimum of three members in any sport to be considered for an automatic state-tournament berth. In one fell swoop, the KIF lost that automatic berth, and also this: Its runner-up was supposed to host the ILH runner-up in a play-in game with the winner qualifying for a state berth.

Now, two of the ILH’s three D-II teams will qualify for the state tourney. That’s good news for Pac-Five, St. Francis and Sacred Hearts — especially for the front-runners, Pac-Five (3-3-1) and St. Francis (3-4).

“This is the first time I’ve heard of anything like that,” longtime Pac-Five coach Cecil Hasegawa said. “I’m sorry to see that happened, but that helped us out.”

When the players left the team, they had no idea that there would be such a widespread effect. All they knew was that they had reached a boiling point with their head coach, Aulani Kaui, and assistant coach Scott Kaui. (The coaching staff has not responded to a request by the Star-Advertiser for an interview. The athletic director, Gonsalves, has also declined to comment.)

The six players who left the team did speak with the Star-Advertiser. The common theme: they’d had enough of Scott Kaui’s constant harping and complete lack of positivity. Sophomore catcher Sabrina Telles-Kelekoma recalled an incident when an outfielder (Shanayah Marshall) with a history of knee and leg injuries ran into a chain-link fence while chasing a fly ball at practice. She hurt a shoulder and her leg buckled, Telles-Kelekoma said. Marshall was yelled at by Scott Kaui to “Man up!”

Shailee Telles-Kelekoma, a freshman second baseman, has played through a back injury.

“(Scott Kaui) was telling us we’re not working hard enough. We try our best and he tells us to push through it, but if I can’t make the play because of my back, he’ll yell at me,” she said.

The players who revolted also pointed to the coaches for allegedly practicing favoritism. After losing a doubleheader on Mar. 26, they returned to practice on Monday and Tuesday. It was the Tuesday practice that was the final straw for the players. Most of the team ran for roughly two hours, while just a few players, including the Kauis’ daughter, a starting pitcher, and a niece, weren’t required to run.

The players have resigned themselves to hoping that there will be a new coaching staff next season. Numbers have dwindled in recent seasons. This year’s team had just nine players before two were asked to try out. One was a track athlete who had not played since age 10, and the other had never played before.

“We all know if they’re still coaching, none of us are going back,” freshman left fielder Taelyn Nunes said. “Coach Scott kind of takes control of everything. Coach Aulani is more like an assistant.”

Freshman first baseman Kendra Kupihea recalled Scott Kaui telling the team that a teammate who missed practice due to illness would lose her starting position. Players were also expected to adopt the Kauis’ batting technique.

“He made me hit the softball with my hand four or five times,” Kupihea said. “I ended up with a lump on my hand for one week.”

Tyra Alao, a junior third baseman, has been part of the Kauis’ youth and high school programs since seventh grade, starting as a team manager. She, too, walked out.

“We have our good days, but a lot more bad days. They’ve changed over the years. The attitude’s been changing, making us run instead of working on what we need to fix,” she said. “We try every year to recruit (former players) back, but they won’t come until there are new coaches. You can only take so much and this was our breaking point.”

The possibility of reconciliation is nil. When the players met with administration on Mar. 30 and explained the incidents, there was no change. Hamada and Gonsalves supported the coaching staff. When players had a chance to air their grievances in another meeting to administration and the coaching staff, they were told there would be individual parent/player settings rather than a group scenario. Only one player and parent agreed to that.

Alao said there had been hope when the season began.

“He (Scott Kaui) said before that he would try to be easier on the girls, but after we got creamed in the first game (a doubleheader), he said being easy on us obviously wasn’t working,” she said.