The bash sisters otherwise known as the Leilehua girls softball team hammered three home runs Tuesday in a 9-3 home victory over Pearl City at Kaala Elementary School.
Kamryn Kamakaiwi, Alohilani Kauhane and Staisa Micky all went deep for the Mules (3-0), who did everything except take the fight out of the visiting Chargers. Pearl City (1-1) tried desperately to claw back with threats in the fifth and sixth, but couldn’t get the crucial hits. All told, the Chargers left 10 runners on the bases.
“I hate losing more than anybody,” Pearl City coach Chad Obara said. “But I can take this loss. I’ll accept it. I think our girls were a little nervous at first and maybe felt they were less (than Leilehua), but once they got their heads together they were swinging the bats. Our pitchers (Maiya Faleafine-Lesu and Jozayah Iriarte) did a great job not giving up free passes. The next step is to keep it in the yard.”
Prior to Tuesday’s win, Leilehua showed it was for real with a 16-5 victory over three-time defending Division I state champion Campbell and a 12-2 rout of Waianae.
On Tuesday, Gwen Maeha’s RBI single and Reilyenne Nahulu’s two-run double made it 3-0 in the first, and the three solo homers by Kamakaiwi, Kauhane and Micky over the next two innings made it 6-1 after three.
“Our confidence and focus on making better contact is getting better,” Leilehua coach Wendell Au said. “Sometimes, they’re real edgy and not focused at the plate. But I’ve never coached a team that is as team-oriented as this one. They’re constantly picking up each other, and everyone is right there behind everyone else.”
Mules right-hander Kaena Nistal allowed nine hits and struck out three in six innings for the win. Alyssa Abe threw one inning of hitless relief.
“The pitching really helped us,” Kauhane said. “And the defense backed them up. At the plate, we made contact and pushed each other.”
The Chargers got single runs in the third, fifth and sixth, thanks to two RBI hits from Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi and one by Noel Saunders.
With runners on second and third in the third, Micky, the Mules’ catcher, picked off Saunders at third to get her team out of danger. Pearl City wound up stranding a runner on third base in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings and left the bases loaded in the sixth, when Nistal got Alexas Presto-Ahsing to pop up for the third out.
“We really could have used a crooked number,” Obara said.
Added Saunders: “At first, we couldn’t build momentum, then we started to build, hit by hit. Maybe we were thinking a little too much at the plate.”
