Roosevelt softball coach Kristin Fujii-Dias thinks her team has a target on its back this season.
Nearly midway through the OIA East season, it appears the Rough Riders are up to the challenge.
Jaeda Cabunoc pitched a one-hitter, and her Roosevelt teammates collected 11 hits and played flawless defense in an 11-0 five-inning victory over host Moanalua on Saturday.
When asked about the statement-making victory, Fujii-Dias said: “We had a good season last year (11-1 record; OIA East champion), so obviously people are expecting us to do good again this year. We just told them expect everybody to play their best game and you have to be ready to play.”
The Rough Riders improved to 5-0, with Cabunoc recording the victory in each game, and have outscored their opponents 77-9. Na Menehune fell to 3-2.
On Saturday, the only baserunners Cabunoc allowed were a two-out single by No. 9 hitter Breanne Louis-Merry in the third and a walk to Raven Rosa-Lasco in the fourth. Cabunoc struck out two.
“Just knowing I have a very good defense behind me, I just have to pitch the ball,” Cabunoc said. “I have to hit my spots and if they hit, I know I have a strong defense.”
The Rough Riders scored two in the first on an RBI groundout by Kanilehua Pitoy off Jada Young and the other run scored on a fielding error by the third baseman.
Roosevelt broke it open with a six-run second inning, highlighted by Kenna Higa’s two-out, three-run triple to left.
“I was just looking forward to helping out the team and I just wanted to do my part,” Higa said. “I wanted to move the runners along and get the game going.”
Hoku Ching and Cabunoc had RBI singles and another run scored on a fielder’s choice in the inning.
In the third, the Rough Riders scored on a fielding error by the left fielder on a hit by Maya Nakamura, Kylie Kawamura’s RBI groundout and Tiani Sniffen’s run-scoring single.
Nakamura finished 3-for-4 with three runs, Pitoy had two runs and two RBIs and Ching went 2-for-3 with two runs for Roosevelt.
“I told the girls I can live with physical errors, but it’s the mental errors that we can’t have. So when the other team hits the ball like they do, I can live with that,” Moanalua coach Dean Oshiro said.
He added the Rough Riders are “a well-oiled machine and have a good coaching staff.”
Roosevelt will face another quality opponent in Kaiser (4-1) on Tuesday.
“Being that we hit pretty well, we have to take that offensive mind-set and ride the momentum into that game,” Nakamura said.
