Honolulu couldn’t overcome a hot start by Illinois, falling 8-4 in its Senior League Softball World Series (16U) opener on Monday in Lower Sussex, Del.

District 17, Ill., scored in each of the first three innings while holding Honolulu scoreless in the first four. District 17 scored one run in the first, then two runs apiece in the second and third innings.

Honolulu finally opened up its scoring in the top of the fifth inning. Mya Kishida walked on a full count to lead off the inning. Kelsey Kaluna-Thomas was also walked, on a 3-1 pitch, and Haylie Reiny singled to load the bases. Kishida tagged up to score Honolulu’s first run of the game on Nikki Chong’s sacrifice fly to shallow left field. With runners at second and third, Taja Souza sent a ball over the third baseman’s glove and down the line to score Kaluna-Thomas and Reiny and cut the deficit to 5-3.

The momentum didn’t last however, as Illinois matched with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to bring their lead back to five runs.

Honolulu made one last push in the top of the sixth. After back-to-back outs to start the inning, Kishida kept the inning alive with a walk. Destiny Tautofi doubled to the center-field wall to score Kishida. Kaluna-Thomas and Reiny drew back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases, and Illinois brought out reliever Mia Volpert. With the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, Volpert struck out Chong on three pitches to preserve the lead and the eventual win.

Honolulu will take on Calgary, Alberta, today at 9 a.m.