She slugs the ball a mile away, hits the books hard for a 3.8 grade-point average and, occasionally, fires up the oven to bake cookies for family and friends.

D’Asha Saiki crafts her tight schedule impeccably every day, rising at 4 a.m. to get to the Punahou campus before traffic clogs her route from Mililani. She is, with the precision of a master baker and the brute force of a cleanup hitter, one of the greatest softball players to dress in the buff and blue.

But what she really does well, beyond her own recognition, is stimulate discussion. She is, possibly, born to chat, stimulated by the world around her and a taste for travel. Saiki lets her bat — and glove, at shortstop – do most of the talking. But she puts everything she has into everything she does, and this year’s young Punahou squad is on the run. Saiki compares the Buffanblu to cheetahs.

“Coach Boy (David Eldredge) talks about playing every game like it’s a championship. Play with intensity,” Saiki said. “Our motto is ‘championship mind-set.’ ”

Saiki’s combination of power, hitting average and skill at shortstop drew plenty of attention during offseason play on the mainland. The University of California saw it two years ago when a scholarship offer was extended to Saiki as a sophomore. Now, as a veteran, Saiki’s presence sets the tone for a young team.

“Her demeanor, she’s calm and takes care of business off the field,” Eldredge said. “She’s the same way on the field.”

Eye-popping batting statistics

Her batting statistics were stellar prior to this year, and simply eye-popping this spring. During her 10th-grade season, she hit .400 with five homers, 21 RBIs and 15 runs scored, slugging .925 and netting a .489 on-base percentage for All-State third-team honors.

As a junior last season, Saiki batted .585 with seven home runs, 23 RBIs, 21 runs scored. She carded a slugging percentage of 1.151 and an on-base rate of .690 in the ruthless Interscholastic League of Honolulu, earning first-team All-State honors.

This year, Saiki is on a pace that is unparalleled and as Ruthian as any. In this ILH regular-season, Saiki is batting, no typo, an insane .917 with 11 hits in 12 at-bats. She has a home run, two triples and two doubles — a slugging mark of 1.667 — to go with 10 RBIs and eight runs scored. She has been walked seven times in addition to the friendly-fire HBP, an OBP of .950.

She started off hot in preseason, when she hit .760 in 25 at-bats, and got hotter in the ILH.

“She goes 4-for-5 in a game, she brings her average down. For everyone else, it’s a career day,” Eldredge said. “I’ve never seen .900 before, so she’s No. 1 in my book.”

For now, Saiki’s OPS (on-base plus slugging) of 2.564 is almost off the charts.

‘Iolani coach Benny Agbayani took his daughter, Aleia, and Saiki on their Crush club team since they were in elementary school, and they played together with the Batbusters club team in California in recent years. They’ll play together at Cal.

“It’s been a great joy seeing them two progress,” coach Agbayani said. “They got better and better every year. Batbusters is 24/7, almost year-round. They would ask, ‘When can they come up,’ and we didn’t want them to fall behind at school. On the other hand, we want them to be able to manage their time. That’s what they’re going to have to do in college.”

Cal-bound teammates meet

When Punahou and ‘Iolani met on the diamond last Thursday — with Aleia on the mound for the Raiders — it was Saiki and her team who got the upper hand. Batting third, Saiki went 3-for-3 with a triple, an RBI and two runs scored. She was also hit by a pitch — no hard feelings as the Buffanblu won 8-7 and improved to 3-2. Cleanup hitter Liana Heshiki went 4-for-4 with two RBIs as Punahou continued its offensive onslaught.

“I think she’s in a league by herself,” Agbayani added. “When she gets up there, she knows what to do and she’s ready to hit. From playing on the mainland, all that experience has helped her become a better ballplayer.”

All Saiki wants for her team, of course, are championships. Embracing the process, the importance of every player on the roster, is a real thing in this program.

“The ILH competition is really strong this year,” Saiki said. “Everyone has a fair shot of going to states. No one has an outstanding pitcher who’ll blow it by you, so the key to our success will be our defense. All the ILH teams can hit, so our pitchers just need to work, pitch strikes and our defense has to make plays. We have to be prepared for anything. We can’t take any team lightly.”

Just six days after graduation (June 1), Saiki will be back on the West Coast, playing in tournaments, honing her craft.

“She loves the game. She’s passionate about it. You look at the greats of any business or sport, that’s the thing. D’Asha is that way,” Eldredge said. “She loves to play and she loves to play the game.”

D’ASHA SAIKI

Punahou softball • Senior

Q & A / Favorites

>> What’s in a name? “My mom had a friend whose daughter was named D’Alissa, and my mom thought it was pretty. D’Asha means hope in Indian. I’m not Indian, but to her it sounds pretty. I was supposed to be named Chantel. That would’ve been too girlie for me.”

>> Athlete: Derek Jeter. “I think his persona on the field and him as a person makes him a great player. He’s definitely someone I liked watching. He knows how the game works, how to talk to people.”

>> Food (at home): Mom’s pork and squash. “My mom (Nadine) always cooks. I’d say pork and squash. Or stew is really good. I like to bake more than cook. I can follow recipes. I like to bake chocolate chip cookies. All cookies are good. Or jello cheesecake.”

>> Food (eating out): Chicken katsu curry (mild). “I like Zippy’s, but I love Curry House. Oh, I love their chicken katsu curry. They specialize in curry and other things like squid or pork katsu. All kinds of foods with curry and it’s pretty decent prices. The one we went to when I was growing up across Pearlridge.”

>> Movie: “Fast and the Furious.” “I like the series. I like the later ones because they have The Rock and people who are famous now. I watched it with my dad (Wayne) a lot.”

>> Place to relax: Lulumahu Falls in Nuuanu.

>> What animal is your team? “I think this year we are cheetahs because we have a lot of speed on this team. Compared to last year, we don’t have as many power hitters. Cheetahs are a perfect representation of this because what they lack in strength, they make up for with their speed.”