Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
No comeback was needed this time, as St. Francis left no doubt.
A day after a seventh-inning rally sent the Saints into the Division II final of the DataHouse/HHSAA Softball Championships, they took control in the first inning against Kamehameha-Hawaii on Friday and captured the program’s second state title with a 10-0 victory at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
St. Francis junior Sierrah Kupihea escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first inning and classmate Kailee Mahelona gave her the lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the frame to propel the Saints to the title a year after losing to Aiea in the D-II final.
“Coming back from a loss is something hard to do, something that beat us down mentally,” Kupihea said. “But over the course of the season we just bonded so much.”
The Saints matched Division I Punahou for the best record in the combined ILH regular season at 9-3, then had a lengthy break between senior day on April 17 and the start of the D-II state tournament on Tuesday.
In the interim, coach Randy Langsi provided a reminder of the task ahead.
“A couple weeks ago I made them sit a room and watch last year’s championship game,” Langsi said of the 4-3 loss to Aiea. “That kind of got us refocused on what our goal and get through each game one game at a time.”
One of just two Division II teams in the ILH, St. Francis wasn’t technically a league champion and went into the state tournament unseeded. After rolling past Kohala and Molokai, the Saints found themselves trailing Konawaena early in Thursday’s semifinal matchup, but scratched out a four-run rally in the bottom of the seventh to pull out an 8-7 win.
It appeared the Saints might fall behind again when Kamehameha-Hawaii loaded the basses with one out in the top of the first on Friday. But Kupihea got a swinging strikeout and a flyout to left to put a zero on the board.
“We just kept telling ourselves we can’t let it happen like we did (Thursday),” Kupihea said after holding KS-Hawaii to two hits and striking out four in the five-inning complete-game victory.
“I’m just thinking I cannot let these girls score first. We’re the ones that have to draw first blood.”
The Saints offense did just that when Ka’ena Keliinoi reached on a one-out error in the bottom of the first and Mahelona drilled a two-strike pitch to left center to give the Saints the lead.
“I just remembered ‘through contact and finish,’ ” Mahelona said. “I missed the pitch before that and I took a breath and was like ‘OK, I got this,’ and I saw the inside pitch and drove it.”
Two more runs scored on Joelle Perreira’s single and Kaitlyn Kalani, the Saints’ ninth-place hitter, capped the six-run outburst with an RBI single.
Senior Skye Ah Yat added a two-run single in the second and Mahelona drove in her third run with a single in the third.
Kupihea, who took the loss in last year’s final, retired 11 straight before giving up a walk to lead off the top of the fifth. After a two-out single, a fly out to left ended the game and gave St. Francis its first state title since 2005.
“We weren’t trying to prove it, we were just trying to show we could do it,” Mahelona said. “It didn’t matter the division, we just played the game we love so much.”
As St. Francis celebrated, Kamehameha-Hawaii got together in front of the first-base dugout and gave a cheer of its own after a team with just two seniors completed a run to the final.
“Win or lose, they leave it all on the field and they should still be able to cheer and be happy and laugh afterward,” Warriors coach Kamehameha-Hawaii coach ‘Akeamakamae Kiyuna said. “It’s not the results we wanted, but we played an awesome team.”
72
