Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
March 17, 2015, 11:43pm
Lono leads Kailua past Castle, 10-4
Robi Lono hi-fives a teammate after scoring a run for Kailua. Greg Yamamoto | SLRobi Lono put her sister in her heart and then put her bat on the ball to lead Kailua to a 10-4 win over Castle Tuesday afternoon.
Lono, a junior shortstop, belted a lead off home run and reached base in all five of her plate appearances to help the Surfriders remain undefeated at 3-0 in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I East game before a crowd of about 100 spectators at McKinley Tiger Softball Stadium.
Kailua sent 11 batters to the plate in a seven-run and got a complete-game pitching effort from freshman Dyani Cummings-Lani to drop the ninth-ranked Knights to 2-2 on the season.
It was Lono's first game back since being involved in a car accident with the rest of her family. Her younger sister, Chasity, remains hospitalized, but is recovering, according to Kailua coach Tamara Kaluau.
"The swelling finally went down — she had to go into surgery — so Robi was out the past two games and it's good to have her back," Kaluau said. "Robi played with a lot of emotion and heart today after the accident, but you cannot keep her out of the game. She's been our starting shortstop the past three years and she's a leader on this team."
Three of the first four batters in the top of the second inning reached base to load the bases. Lei Makua and Moani Kupahu delivered back-to-back RBI singles and Lono scored on an error to give Kailua a 4-1 lead. Four more runs came across in the inning to make it an 8-1 lead.
Castle added a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning on RBIs by Paige Matsuki and Asia Igafo and another in the fifth as Darien Dacosin reached on a single and came around to score on Kailua error.
Chang drove in a second run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth.
Kailua, which remains one-half game behind division-leading Kaiser in the D1 East standings, visits Moanalua Saturday, while Castle hosts Kaimuki Saturday.
