Hawaii players prep for softball regionals

COURTESY OLE MISS ATHLETICS
Ole Miss second baseman Keila Kamoku, a Kamehameha alumna, ranks second on the team with a .289 batting average and is third with seven home runs.

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COURTESY OLE MISS ATHLETICS

Ole Miss second baseman Keila Kamoku, a Kamehameha alumna, ranks second on the team with a .289 batting average and is third with seven home runs.

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Six of the 64 teams selected to the NCAA Division I Softball Championship on Sunday will include a player who graduated from high school in Hawaii.

Ole Miss sophomore second baseman Keila Kamoku leads the Rebels into their seventh straight NCAA appearance against Baylor on Friday in the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional in Utah.

The Rebels (30-26) earned an at-large bid to the tournament and are the No. 3 seed in the regional.

Kamoku, a 2021 Kamehameha alumna, has started 53 games this year and has seen her batting average climb from .233 in 23 starts as a freshman to .289 this year with six doubles, seven homers and 22 RBIs with 25 runs scored.

Her memorable moment this season came in a series-clinching win over Missouri in April when she hit the go-ahead, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning. She also had a two-homer game against Louisiana Tech earlier that week.

Kamoku ranks second on the team in batting average and third in home runs.

California junior first baseman D’Asha Saiki has appeared in 39 games with 33 starts this season.

The 2019 Punahou alumna and the Golden Bears have the daunting task of playing in the NCAA Norman Regional hosted by the No. 1 team in the country and defending national champion Oklahoma.

Cal (33-19-1) made the tournament for the first time since 2018 despite finishing 9-14-1 in Pac-12 play.

Saiki, who missed Cal’s final four games of the season, including a 6-2 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 quarterfinals, hit .261 this season with five doubles, three homers and 14 RBIs with 15 runs scored.

The Golden Bears are the only team with multiple players from Hawaii listed on the roster. Infielder/outfielder Aleia Agbayani, a 2019 ‘Iolani alumna, has not played this season.

Long Island senior Alyssa Okada, a 2019 Pearl City graduate, helped the Sharks win the Northeast Conference championship and lock up a spot in the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional hosted by Alabama.

LIU will open the tournament Friday against the fifth-seeded Crimson Tide.

Okada, an outfielder who finished 2-for-3 with a run scored in the tournament championship, started 45 of the 50 games she’s appeared in this season.

She hit .223 with two doubles and 16 runs scored and stole five bases.

Loyola Marymount’s Liliana Thomas, a transfer from Arizona State, has started 28 games for the Lions, who will make their second NCAA appearance in the NCAA Palo Alto Regional hosted by Stanford.

LMU (27-20), which won the West Coast Conference, will open against Florida.

Thomas, a 2021 Maryknoll alumna, serves as the team’s backup catcher and hit .148 with three doubles and five runs scored.

Tennessee freshman Jackie Kirkpatrick, a 2022 Mililani alumna, started three games and batted 2-for-12 with six runs scored and two RBIs for the Volunteers, who are the No. 4 overall seed and host Horizon League champion Northern Kentucky to open the NCAA Knoxville Regional on Friday.

Grand Canyon sophomore infielder Lovey Kepa’a, a 2021 Leilehua alumna, has homered and scored eight runs in limited action this season for the Lopes, who won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament and will open the NCAA Los Angeles Regional on Friday against No. 2 overall seed UCLA.