No. 10 Leilehua overwhelms No. 2 Waianae in softball

The power outage at Wahiawa, it turns out, was temporary.

Kiana Domingo saw to that. The junior third baseman clouted two of her team’s four home runs, all after the third inning, as No. 10 Leilehua overwhelmed No. 2 Waianae 8-1 on Saturday morning.

Jaclyn Kepa‘a and Gianna Araki also belted homers for Leilehua. The home-field win by the Mules at Kaala Elementary School improved their record to 6-3 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association West softball standings. Waianae dropped to 6-2 as first-place Campbell opened its lead over the rest of the pack.

Waianae entered the game with a 3-1 mark against Top 10 opponents during the regular season, the lone loss coming in a 7-6 battle with No. 1 Campbell.

“Sometimes, you need to go backwards, to take a loss to realize the positives, how to be a winner, to take a loss the same as a win. I’m proud of our girls,” Waianae coach Robert Kalaola said.

Defending state champion Leilehua began league play 2-3, but has homered at least once in each of its four wins since. The Lady Mules played error-free on defense, giving ace Alyssa Abe a good comfort zone. Abe scattered five hits, struck out five and walked four. Waianae got runners in scoring position only twice, during the second and seventh innings.

“I asked her to trust her gut feel,” Mules coach Wendell Au said. “I said if a certain pitch is in the wheelhouse of somebody, take it out. Just as long as it’s in the general location, don’t drastically change it. Once she has that comfortable feel, it takes her game to another level.”

Waianae started freshman Mya Keliiwaiwai‘ole, who pitched five innings when the Seariders beat Leilehua on March 5. This time, she went three innings, allowing no runs on two hits with one strikeout and no walks.

In the second inning, the visiting Seariders got a single by Paiala Wilcox-Molina, a double by Journey Rodrigues, and an opposite-field single by Kailua Coyaso-Gates that brought Wilcox-Molina home for a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

Domingo’s first homer came in the bottom of the fourth inning on the first pitch from Waianae’s second pitcher, Alohilani Napalapalai. Alana Jarra-Parker then singled and advanced to second base on an error by center fielder Shaylin Lopes. With one out, Torie Au tripled to center, bringing Jarra-Parker home for a 2-1 Leilehua lead. Kepa‘a then sent a 1-0 pitch deep over the left-field fence, landing roughly 260 feet from home plate. It was the sixth homer in OIA West action for the right-handed-hitting sophomore shortstop.

With two outs, Mikayla Pinera’s mini-pop-up near home plate hit the ground as third baseman Xailey Kamealoha dove for the ball. Pinera reached second base as Waianae retrieved the ball in foul ground, and the ball was ruled fair.

Waianae’s bench questioned whether any of its players had touched the ball in fair territory.

Araki then singled to left, where Lei Kapihe muffed the ball, allowing Pinera to score from second base for a 5-1 Leilehua lead.

Meanwhile, Abe finessed her away through Waianae’s lineup. Rather than challenge the big bats, she used off-speed pitches from the start. Of the 15 balls in play that were outs, 12 of them were fly balls or pop-ups.

Four times, the Seariders pulled the ball deep, but foul.

In the fifth, Domingo walloped a 2-0 fastball well beyond the left-field fence to give the Mules a 6-1 lead.