HANAPEPE — Kapaa High School softball team was winning, but lost against the defending Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II champions Friday during pool play at the Waimea High School Invitational Softball tournament at the Hanapepe Stadium complex. “We
HANAPEPE — Kapaa High School softball team was winning, but lost against the defending Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division II champions Friday during pool play at the Waimea High School Invitational Softball tournament at the Hanapepe Stadium complex.
“We had 12 minutes going to bat,” said Kapaa coach Francis Takasaki. “We went to the short game after Tyla Alao whacked into an RBI triple. The turning point was the bunt single by Jumba Kupihea that scored Alao. We won, but because time ran out they reverted to the previous inning’s score and we lost to Pac-Five, 6-5.”
The loss did not upset Takasaki who looked ahead to his showdown against Mililani who, on Thursday, downed Kauai High School.
“We can be the spoiler in that game,” Takasaki said. “We’ve already done our bucket list which was to win at least one game. We had this game against the defending Division II champions, and I’d like to face them, again.”
Kapaa has the best record for the Kauai Interscholastic Federation teams at the Waimea tournament which features 10 teams, seven from off-island.
Following its win over Kamehameha Schools-Hawaii on Thursday, Kapaa went on to take Kauai High School on a 10-run ruling before coming up short against Pac-Five. They are, as of press time, 2-1 in pool play.
Host Waimea is also 1-1, taking its match against Kalani but dropping to Pearl City who is currently undefeated in its pool.
The tournament enters playoff format Saturday with the tournament championship game scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. at the Hanapepe Stadium complex.
