Kamehameha players mob Dallas Millwood as she reaches home plate after hitting a game-tying home run against Maryknoll. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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031815_KHS_26_gametying_homerun_3688.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAPALAMA HEIGHTS— Dallas Millwood's home run in the bottom of the seventh rallied the Warriors (3-0-1) as Kamehameha and Maryknoll played to a 6-6 tie because the game ended due to darkness in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu matchup at the Warriors' field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Warriors ranked No. 1 in the ScoringLive/OC16 Softball Power Rankings, outscored their first three ILH opponents 52-4. The Lady Spartans, ranked fifth, flattened Mid-Pacific (3-1), 18-2 on Monday and gave Kamehameha their toughest test so far in the early part of the ILH season.

Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh, Millwood crushed a home run over the left field fence to tie the game. Shearyna Labasan regained her composure to get the next three outs. She struck out Christine Hipa, but beaned Mahina Sauer. Makana Tyrell, who came in for Sauer as a courtesy runner was caught stealing and Rachel Ogasawara struck out to end the inning and the umpires decided to call the game a little after 6:30 p.m. for the safety of the players.

"You have to give them a lot of credit from being down in the dumps and coming back and scoring that one run. You have to give us credit for settling down and getting those last three outs," said Maryknoll coach John Uekawa.

"I was happy I could help out my team so we could tie it up," said Millwood, who went 2-for-3. "We have to keep working and keep moving forward from there."

The Warriors got three hits in the first two innings before Ogasawara and Kamalani Dung each socked home runs over the fence to give Kamehameha a 2-0 lead. Ogasawara extended the Warriors' lead to 3-0 after her sacrifice fly brought in Dallas Millwood in the third.

"We'll learn from this and we'll get better from this. Being up and falling behind and tying it up in the seventh so very good character on our part to tie it up," said first-year coach Kamehameha coach James Millwood.

"They key to everything is softball is an extremely long game and that was one inning and I told them to relax and not to worry and we'll come back. There's going to be an inning where we have to make a commitment to score runs and we did it," said Uekawa.

Uekawa's words came true as Labasan and Bree Soma got on base due to Warrior errors. Nohea Hee's RBI single to right field brought in Labasan for Maryknoll's first score of the game. Soma scored another run after Kanoe Tanigawa's fly out to center and Hee scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 3.

"They had a lot of momentum right there and it seemed like we couldn't get an out. It's good because we have a good pitcher in Kama and we can't always have to rely on her to win it for us. She dug down and battled," said Millwood.

The Warriors responded in the bottom of the fourth as Kiana Burnett singled to left field. Katelyn Mahelona bunted and Burnett was picked off on a fielder's choice. Alana Cobb-Adams drove in a double and Lia Tom reached on an error. A fielding error by Miki Takara brought in Mahelona and Cobb-Adams to give the Warriors a 5-3 lead.

Hee doubled to center and Mylee Enos singled to right field to start off the sixth inning. Tamia Hirano hit a home run over the centerfield fence to bring in Chynna Mekaru, who came in for Enos and Hee to give the Lady Spartans a 6-5 lead. The Warriors were able to rally together to get the final two outs to end the inning.

"I knew I had to make solid contact because we were down. I had to make solid contact to bring in runners and score one run at a time. When I made contact, it went and I was surprised myself," said Hirano, on her 3 RBI home run.

"I had this feeling that she was going break through to do something good," said Uekawa.

Labasan and Dung each tossed eight strikeouts for the game.

"Kamehameha came to play and came out banging. We adjusted and Kama is an outstanding pitcher. We settled down and we understood what we had to do," said Uekawa.

Kamehameha will host No. 4 Punahou (4-0) on Saturday, Mar. 21 at 2 p.m. Maryknoll will play Iolani (1-3) on the same day at Ala Wai Field at 10 a.m. Both teams will meet again at Sand Island Park on Apr. 8 at 4 p.m.