LIHU‘E — Roughly 18 hours after they had pounded out 20 runs in the quarterfinals, the Waimea Lady Menehune were shut out in their semifinal matchup against still-unbeaten Kahuku, Thursday afternoon. Waimea (11-4) was on the short end of a
LIHU‘E — Roughly 18 hours after they had pounded out 20 runs in the quarterfinals, the Waimea Lady Menehune were shut out in their semifinal matchup against still-unbeaten Kahuku, Thursday afternoon.
Waimea (11-4) was on the short end of a 5-0 final score against third-seeded Kahuku (16-0) in the DataHouse/Hawai‘i High School Athletic Association Division II Softball State Championships at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The loss moves the Lady Menehune into the third-place game today, where they will face Waipahu at 1 p.m., also at the RWSS.
Entering the state tournament as the No. 2 seed after a Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation championship, Waimea was held to four hits in the game by Kahuku pitcher Pitisi Tualau.
Taylor Ephan continued her big week, going 2 for 3, but the Lady Menehune were unable to scrape together enough offense.
Kahuku’s Napua-Ku‘uipo Aumua-Yamamoto had a home run and two RBIs, while Tualau went 2 for 3 and Kaylynn Latu added a double.
Waimea starting pitcher Shelly Koerte was saddled with the loss, but gave up just six hits in the game. The defense had three errors to Kahuku’s one.
A two-run first inning put Kahuku out front 2-0 after one, which it added to with another pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth, and another in the sixth to create the final math.
Kahuku will now take on the division’s top seed, Pac-Five, which picked up a 2-0 win over Waipahu, earlier Thursday afternoon.
The Kahuku vs. Pac-Five Div. II championship game will take place today at 5 p.m. at the RWSS.
Wednesday night, Waimea outlasted St. Francis in what had looked like an easy victory. After piling up 12 runs and holding a 12-2 lead in the sixth inning, Waimea was just three outs away from advancing via the 10-run rule.
But the St. Francis bats — which were prominently on display in the play-in game at Isenberg Park against Kaua‘i High School, scoring 24 runs — came alive with with a 10-run inning to tie the score at 12-12.
Having given up a big lead in the KIF championship game against Kaua‘i, Waimea responded in similar fashion by firing back with eight runs in the top of the seventh inning for the 20-12 win to move into Thursday’s semifinal round.
Ephan went 4 for 5 with two home runs and five RBIs in that win, making her 6 for 8 in the two tournament games.
Alyssa Jardin was 3 for 4 with a triple, a home run and five RBIs against St. Francis.
St. Francis’ Kelsie Hee went 2 for 3 with a pair of home runs and five RBIs.
Pac-Five 2,
Waipahu 0
A two-run first inning was all Pac-Five needed in its 2-0 semifinal win over Waipahu.
The early scores were more than enough for pitcher Sofia Luczak, who fired a one-hitter. She also went 1 for 3 with an RBI.
Kylie Nishino had the lone hit for Waipahu (12-2).
No. 1 Pac-Five (11-9) will play in the title game today against No. 3 Kahuku. It will be shown live on OC 16 at 5 p.m.
scored three in the top of the ninth and knocked off No. 4 seed Radford, 14-11.
It was David Rapanot’s go-ahead double that proved to be the game winner for Molokai. He was 2 for 6 in the game.
Trailing 11-5, Radford scored five times in the bottom of the fifth to get within a run, then tied things up in the bottom of the seventh on an error.
Matchups for today’s games were unknown at press time, due to inclement weather that affected games, Thursday on O‘ahu.
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