Stremick comes through in the circle, at the plate for Kalani

Freshman Naomi Stremick doubled, tripled, homered, scored the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth and pitched the last two innings for the win as Kalani edged No. 8 Moanalua 5-4 in eight innings on Tuesday.

In the bottom of the inning, Moanalua had runners at the corners when Stremick came through in the circle and stopped Na Menehune.

“I was just thinking, it’s not in my hands. Give all glory to God. That’s what was on my mind the whole time. Before the last out, I wrote my grandma’s initials in the dirt behind home plate,” Stremick said.

Her grandmother, Leonora Nakahara, died in 2019.

“I’ve been having a hard time hitting for a while. Me, my mom, my sister and my dad helped me all weekend and helped me fix a couple of things,” said Stremick, a left-handed hitter. “I just felt very confident at the plate.”

Her mother happens to be Kalani coach Iris Stremick.

“They stuck together and never gave up, on the field and in the dugout. Every player is valuable to the team,” she said. “It’s important to be ready for the call to come in, and they all were. I just love this team, how close they are. It doesn’t matter what happens in the game. They come back for the next pitch, the next play. They know they have the support of everybody out there.”

The young Falcons handed Na Menehune their first loss in OIA East play. Kalani, Moanalua and Kaiser are now in a three-way tie for first place at 5-1. Kalani was coming off a 4-1 loss to Kaiser over the weekend.

Stremick led off the top of the eighth inning with a triple to deep left-center at Moanalua’s field, where there is no standard 200-foot outfield fence. Haley Ching followed with a sacrifice fly to deep right, scoring Stremick easily from third base for a 5-4 lead.

Moanalua scrapped hard in the bottom of the eighth against Stremick. With two outs, Kayla Mashino walked and advanced to third base on Kara Miyoshi’s single to right field.

Stremick bore down and retired Emily Tome on a come-backer to the circle, ending the game. It was an interesting finish, with Tome swinging at the first pitch she saw. Kalani had already committed six errors, and the idea of sending the runner on first base, Mashino, to test the Falcons’ mettle was there.

Coach Gordon Fernandez gave his No. 3 hitter in the lineup a chance.

“I’ve got some girls who can swing the bat. I didn’t want to change anything they do every day, so we let them go,” Fernandez said. “With Emily up at the plate, that’s my hottest hitter. I didn’t want to take a chance that somehow they take our runner away from us. If she didn’t get a chance to swing, I would not be able to sleep.”

The top two teams in the OIA East will earn first-round byes in the playoffs. Moanalua lost its advantage in the race.

“A little disappointed in the loss, but I’m going to be honest. With the way my team fought today, I couldn’t ask for more,” Fernandez said.

Kalani relied on their youth brigade. Sophomore starting pitcher Kadie Carpio went six innings, allowing one earned run and five hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

“Kadie pitched awesome. She has come a long way. She has the confidence to pitch a lot of her movement pitches and with sass,” coach Stremick said. “I’m just proud of her and how she’s progressed since JV to where she is today. She has confidence and she has joy.”

The visitors, clad in red jerseys and visors, white pants and high red leggings, broke the ice in the top of the first. Kylie Tanimura led off with a walk, and with two outs, Stremick doubled off Mashino, Moanalua’s starting pitcher, to score Tanimura.

The home team, in blue-and-white jerseys reminiscent of the 1970s Atlanta Braves, tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Maila Taga walked with one out and Kamryn Miyataki singled. After Carpio struck out Tori Villanueva, Kiana Pasion singled to left, plating Taga from second base.

In the top of the third, Maddix Muramoto was hit by a pitch with two outs, and Stremick followed with a long, towering blast to right field that bounced off the a fence nearly 300 feet away. Stremick raced around the bases and slid home ahead of the tag for a two-run, inside-the-park homer.

Leading 3-1, Kalani added a run in the top of the fifth.

Tanimura singled with one out. After Ashlyn Sera popped out, Muramoto sent a sinking liner to center that was dropped by Moanalua’s Hunter Jackson.

After Stremick was intentionally walked to load the bases, Ching’s grounder to shortstop Eva Kamekoa took a bad hop and everyone was safe. Tanimura scored from third base, extending Kalani’s lead to 4-1.

Moanalua then scored one run in each of its next three turns at the plate to tie it at 4-all.

Kalani (11-6-1 overall) posted its first win over a Top 10 team in eight tries. The Falcons will host Roosevelt on Saturday at Kilauea District Park.

Moanalua (5-3 overall) will host Castle on Friday.