Heavy rain hindered play in the de facto OIA East championship game, but not completely, as Roosevelt topped Kaiser 8-4 in an abbreviated five-inning game at McKinley.

Avenging their only loss of the season thus far, the Rough Riders (11-1) won their second matchup against the Cougars (9-3) and head into the OIA tournament as the top seed from the East.

“A win is a win,” Roosevelt coach Kris Fujii-Dias said. “Postseason is what matters, so we just gotta focus on the postseason.”

Roosevelt received five solid innings from Jaeda Cabunoc, who had five strikeouts while allowing four hits and two walks despite dealing with a slippery ball throughout her start.

With a four-run lead heading into the bottom of the fifth, Roosevelt looked primed to add to its lead after Maya Nakamura got on base with a walk and advanced to third after Kylie Kawamura’s double down the left-field line. However, with another heavy wave of rain, the game was called right after Kawamura’s at-bat.

The decision came after multiple delays in action throughout the game, due to heavy showers that were persistent from the first pitch.

Kaiser coach Mitch Matsumoto wasn’t sure if the game would be official after it was called off, citing a game last year in which the Cougars played Moanalua and had to start a game over despite playing into the seventh inning.

The Rough Riders got the scoring started in the bottom of the first when Tiani Sniffen’s double drove in Kawamura. Sniffen was then driven in from second by Mika Emoto’s single to give the Rough Riders an early 2-0 edge.

Ivane Aholelei tied things up at 2 in one swing, when her home run in the top of the third drove in Tahani Kahawai-Robinson.

The Rough Riders responded with five runs in the home half of the third. After giving up a solo home run to Mari Foster, Kaiser starter Christiana Aholelei struggled pitching in the rain, walking three hitters in the inning. Additionally, Jadalee Takara and Hoku Ching both scored on wild pitches.

Roosevelt added another run in the fourth inning after Kanilehua Pitoy walked with the bases loaded. Primrose Aholelei took over in the circle with no outs in the inning but got out of it without any additional damage.

“We hit good and defensively we didn’t make any errors,” Fujii-Dias said. “Offensively, we executed when we needed to.”

Kaiser cut into the deficit, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth inning, aided by doubles from Kahawai-Robinson and Precious Aholelei.