Improbable comebacks are the “in” thing these days in Oahu high school softball.

Down 6-0, No. 7 Punahou hammered away for seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to steal an ILH softball game from No. 9 St. Francis, 7-6, on Wednesday at the Buffanblu’s field.

It was like the home team put a pin in the Saints’ balloon, and it was done in a similar fashion to No. 1 Campbell’s 7-6 comeback victory over No. 10 Leilehua on Saturday.

“Once you get momentum in this game, it starts working out for you,” said Punahou coach Boy Eldredge, who credited his players with making adjustments at the plate in order to cut down on the dreaded fly balls and pop ups. “The second, third time around in the order, they got on top of the ball and it made all of the difference in that fifth inning.

“If we lost this one it would have put us back. Now we’re right there in the hunt. Considering our start (two losses to open the season), we’re pretty happy where we’re at.”

At 5-2, Punahou is tied with Maryknoll and ‘Iolani for second place in the ILH, a half-game behind Mid-Pacific (6-1).

On the pitching of Sierrah Kupihea, the visitors were riding high. She didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, just before Punahou began to find its way to the promised land with St. Francis unable to answer.

Leading by those six runs, the Saints avoided big trouble in the fourth, when Buffanblu courtesy runner Makanalei Lapera was cut down at home on a 9-5-2 relay to a end potential multi-run inning.

But even though it didn’t score, Punahou ended that frame with two straight hits, and four of the first five batters in the fifth came through with hits against a suddenly struggling Kupihea. In came reliever Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung, the eventual losing pitcher, who had some initial trouble with high balls.

All told, the Buffanblu (5-2) sent 13 batters to the plate in the fifth and brought home seven runs. The biggest blow came with two outs and Punahou still trailing 6-5. That’s when Tiani Wayton cracked the winning hit, a two-run double down the left-field line off Nakoa-Chung to make it 7-6. Jadey Hagiwara, Torie Hoshide, Maya Matsubara and winning pitcher Ashanti Martinez also drove in runs in the inning.

“Tiani’s ball down the line that scored the two was huge,” said Eldredge, whose team finished as the state Division I runner-up a year ago. “Somebody had to step up and Tiani did. She came up with that big one.”

Said Wayton, “I was thinking base-hit. I just wanted to help out my team as much as I can. I knew we could keep battling back because that’s what we do.”

In the pitcher’s circle, Martinez was the victim of the long ball through the first five innings, but settled down to hold St. Francis (4-3) hitless in the last two innings.

The defending D-II state champion Saints built a 3-o lead through two innings on Shaylann Grace’s two-run homer and Aulani Garcia’s solo shot. In the fifth, St. Francis made it 6-0 on Kupihea’s two-run triple and Kaena Keliinoi’s RBI single.

“It does sting, losing after having such a big lead,” Kupihea said. “It will add more fuel to the fire to take it to them next time we face them (April 12).”

Saints coach Randy Langsi added, “The coaches expressed to the girls to keep fighting, hold your head up high. We were going up against a pretty good team and we’re going to come back even harder and do our homework next time.”