Iolani's Kawai Scanlan connected with this pitch for a grand slam home run to break things open against Sacred Hearts. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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031115_IO_8_Grandslam_0665.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Iolani rebounded from a tough loss to Punahou in their season opener in a big way, pounding out 13 hits en route to a six-inning, 12-1 win over Sacred Hearts at Ala Wai Field.

With regular starter Katie Yuu unavailable with a concussion, Alyssa Espiritu took to the circle and went the distance, allowing just one hit in her first five innings of work, before allowing one run on three hits in the final frame.

"She's a veteran, a four year varsity player and she knows how to step up so we weren't expecting anything less from her," said Iolani head coach Corey Okamura.

Espiritu faced just 20 batters in the contest, relying a mix of pitches including her curve and change-up, but perhaps more importantly, a stellar defense behind her that fielded no less than a half-dozen well hit balls coming off of the Lancers' bats for outs.

"I felt good knowing my defense had my back behind me, they gave me a lot of confidence," said Espiritu.

She helped her own cause at the dish as well, with a single back up the box in the first inning that scored the game's opening run, and drove in another run in the 4th.

The bulk of the offensive fireworks, however, came from the two and three spots in the lineup, courtesy of starter Macy Uyehara and sophomore reserve Kawai Scanlan, who was forced into action when Spencer Oda had to leave the game in the first inning with an apparent leg injury.

Uyehara was a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate, including a pair of triples, and scored 4 runs, while Scanlan added her own 3-for-3 afternoon that was capped off by a shot to center good for a grand slam in the top of the fourth inning that effectively broke the game wide open for the Raiders.

"She (Sacred Hearts' pitcher Kaua Huihui-Awa) pitched me the same pitch again and I got a hold of it," said Scanlan of her base clearing shot just over the head of the Lancers' centerfielder.

Sacred Hearts started a mini rally in the last of the sixth, stringing together three straight singles capped off by Alohilani Kauhane touching home plate on a sacrifice fly by Huihui-Awa to break up the shutout bid, but Malua Kaluau's line shot was snagged by Iolani shortstop Ashlyn Okamoto to end the threat and the contest.

Alexic Nono led the Lancers with a pair of singles in the loss.

"This win meant a lot, because after this we can come back even harder," remarked Espiritu. "We just flushed the loss to Punahou and this was a really big boost to help us for the rest of the season."