Navarro helps pitch, hit Kapolei past Waipahu, 9-3

Kapolei's Kacee Navarro connects with a pitch for a base hit against Waipahu. Sylvia Lee | SL

An all-around effort by starting pitcher Kacee Navarro helped the Lady Hurricanes power past host Waipahu to spoil their senior game. Navarro threw seven strikeouts in the circle and went 3-for-4 with the bat accumulating a run and an RBI in the win.

"It feels good because we were all working together," exclaimed Navarro. "I was real happy about it (the win) because in the beginning, I wasn't too sure if I was going to do good."

The Lady Hurricanes erupted for seven runs at the top of the fourth with most of the damage coming off of Stacia-Ai Mahoe's 2 RBI double to help blow the game wide open. Kapolei were also able to limit the errors on their part just committed one while Waipahu committed nine.

"We got some timely hits and some big breaks," explained Kapolei head softball coach Anthony Safery. "The little squib hit that went behind third, couple of mishandled balls on their (Waipahu) part defensively. That's the way bounces because that could have been us (committing errors)."

Kapolei improved to (6-5) on the season, setting up a Saturday showdown with (6-5) Campbell for sole possession of second place in the wild Red West of the OIA.

"The win was big for us," said Safery. "We talked about it early with the kids; just getting a good position going into the playoffs. The win was good, we needed that. We were kind of on a rollercoaster ride throughout the season between wins and losses."

Kapolei was able to get on the scoreboard in the first inning thanks to Mahoe who was able to get on base after a Lady Marauder mishandled a ground ball. Two batters later, Kanai'aupuni Smith hit a fair ball down the right foul line and Mahoe scored the first run of the game.

Both teams were impressive defensively in the second inning. Waipahu defense were able to get back to back to back outs from fly-outs and pop-outs, which were highlighted by center fielder Tevenah Niuatoa's sliding catch. Kapolei's own Navarro threw three strikeouts in the bottom of the second to close out the inning.

Neither team scored until the fourth inning when the Kapolei fireworks happened. Waipahu would rally for three runs within the remaining innings, but the deficit was too large to overcome.

"They played tough," said Waipahu assistant softball coach Ivan DeFreitas. "We played a good tough team; Kapolei is not a team that you can expect to win (against). The girls' performance was good; they slacked on the bat little bit, but other than that they can keep their heads up, they did a good job."

The Lady Marauders were led by senior Nala Viliamu who went 2 for 3 at bat generating all off Waipahu's runs. Viliamu had an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to bring fellow Lady Marauder Lauren Tauanuu home and also hit the only homerun of the afternoon bringing in Shevan DeFreitas and herself home later in the sixth. Defreitas pitched three innings in relief for Waipahu starter AJ Miranda.