Kamalani Dung struck out 13 batters and scattered seven hits in a complete, 10 inning game against the Cougars. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA - Clutch hitting, gutsy pitching and a keen defensive sense helped No. 1 Kamehameha outlast No. 5 Kaiser, 3-2, in 10 innings Thursday night in the opening round of the DataHouse Division I state softball tournament.

Mahina Sauer's two out, single to left scored Alana Cobb-Adams from third base with the winning run at 11:02 p.m. at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium to send the second-seeded Warriors to Friday's semifinals against Campbell at 5 p.m.

After having just escaped a Kaiser threat in the top of the 10th, Cobb-Adams led off the bottom of the frame with a ground single to center. After Kamalani Dung struck out, Cobb-Adams stole second and advanced to third on catcher Tiana Ching-Lake's errant throw to second before Dallas Millwood struck out. With two down, the left-handed hitting Sauer stroked a liner to left to score Cobb-Adams with the game-ender.

"It shows the kind of character we have, how they count on each other and got it done," Kamehameha first-year coach James Millwood said.

Warriors' starting and winning pitcher Dung and Kaiser's starter Seli Aholelei battled all game, pitching out of jams and dominating at times. Each struck out 13. Dung allowed two runs, one earned, seven hits and three walks in 10 innings. Aholelei went 9 2/3 innings, allowing three runs, six hits and three walks in taking the loss.

"She did great," Millwood said of Aholelei. "We weren't seeing the ball very well. Give her a lot of credit. She was hanging in there."

But the Warriors, who committed two errors early in the game that led to one unearned run, made a crucial defensive play in the top of the 10th when the Cougars threatened to break the deadlock.

Rainelle Matsuoka led off with a single to left-center and took second on Marisa Oda's perfect bunt single that was hard enough to get past third baseman Kaleihoku Kaneshiro. After Ching-Lake's sacrifice advanced the runners to scoring position, Kayla Russell hit a grounder to Kaneshiro, who feigned a throw to first, but instead caught Matsuoka leaning toward home and fired the shortstop Lia Tom to nail Matsuoka on the back door play for the second out. Haley Suzuki grounded to third to force Oda at third to end the inning.

"That was a difference-maker," Millwood said. "We had an idea that's what she was going to do. We talked about it during the timeout."

This was Kamehameha's first game in 19 days, Millwood said  While Dung was well-rested for Wednesday's night's haul, the defense needed some WD-40.

Kaiser took the lead in the top of the first. Aholelei led off with a single to left, took second on Elyse Tsutsui's sacrifice, went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Matsuoka hit a grounder to third and first baseman Jordan Millwood dropped Hipa's throw. Dung retired the next two batters to end the inning.

The Cougars added a run in the fourth. Oda reached on a single to third and took second on Ching-Lake's sacrifice. After Russell struck out, Suzuki reached safely on shortstop Tom's throwing error that allowed pinch runner Hannah Grace McDermott to score before Dung struck out Chelsea Soong to make it 2-0.

"We had a 19-day rest," Millwood said. "We were rusty and very fortunate to come out with this victory."

Kamehameha tied it in the fifth. Pinch hitter Kaleihoku Kaneshiro doubled to left with one out and went to third when Cobb-Adams reached first on a bunt single to third. Kaneshiro scored on Dung's sacrifice fly to center. After Cobb-Adams stole second, she scored on single to center by Dallas Millwood, who took second on the throw to the infield. But she was stranded when Sauer grounded out to second. Aholelei would retire 12 of the next 14 Warriors until the fateful 10th.