Campbell holds off Pearl City in wild West

Fortune shined on the Campbell softball team Tuesday despite the rare gray, drizzly Ewa day.

The three-time defending Division I state champion Sabers held off a fierce Pearl City rally for a 5-4 win that left the ultra-competitive OIA West in a tangled web, with six squads looking for any ray of light at the top.

With the win, No. 3 Campbell improved to 3-1 and, by the end of the day, found itself alone in first place, ahead of Kapolei and Leilehua. The Hurricanes beat the Mules 8-3 to move into a second-place tie with each other. Three other teams — No. 8 Mililani, the Chargers and Waianae — are all 2-2.

“I think this year, it’s anybody’s game,” said Sabers coach Michael Hermosura, whose team meets Mililani on Saturday.

An attempt to make a diving catch led to the Chargers’ undoing Tuesday. Trailing 3-2, Pearl City left fielder Taylor Au, who is known for making spectacular catches, bolted in for a liner off the bat of Michaela Fonoti. The ball hit Au’s glove and skipped into foul territory about 25 feet behind third base. Campbell’s Zoie Recolan scored from third base on the play, but the real damage came when the Chargers made a wild throw in an attempt to get Fonoti at second and Fonoti came around to score with what turned out to be the game’s winning run.

“A lot of things could have gone differently,” Pearl City coach Chad Obara said. “It was very competitive. The girls put in their best effort and I’m sure the Campbell coaches feel the same way.”

Down by three runs, the Chargers were far from done, scoring twice in the sixth to make it 5-4. Noel Saunders’ infield hit to second base drove in one run, but Alyssa Okada — who went to second on the play — overran the bag by a step and was thrown out for the second out. That was an out Pearl City couldn’t afford. Two walks loaded the bases, and Tiari Hernandez lined an RBI single to left, but Campbell pitcher — complete-game winner Chloe Sales — stopped the bleeding as the Chargers stranded three runners.

Sales gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out three. Pearl City’s Maiyah Faleafine-Lesu took the loss, allowing just three earned runs among the five she gave up in 31⁄3 innings. Fellow freshman Jozayah Iriarte finished up with 22⁄3 innings of two-hit relief.

Earlier, in the top of the first, Pearl City went up 1-0 on Faleafine-Lesu’s sacrifice fly. In the bottom half, Alesia Ranches clocked a two-run inside-the-park home run to the gap in left-center for a 2-1 Sabers lead.

Alexas Presto-Ahsing made it 2-2 in the fourth for the Chargers with an inside-the-park, solo homer to left. Then, early in Campbell’s three-run fourth, Dyllan Sanay-Shiraishi doubled and pinch runner Hokulani Pacheco scored on Caisha Nunes’ sacrifice fly for a 3-2 edge.

After the loss, Pearl City’s Au said, “We need to work on our defense. We’re making little mistakes that cost us.”

The Chargers meet Waianae on Saturday. Campbell’s Hermosura knows his team barely escaped with the win, saying, “Pearl City has always been a scrappy team. They’ve got good coaches and they’re going to bring that team around.”