Maryknoll's Shearyna Labasan went the distance for the Spartans, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out five to earn the win over Pearl City. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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05121517_Mary_8669.jpg - Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA -Shearyna Labasan overcame a shaky first inning and No. 2 Maryknoll rocked No. 6 Pearl City, 8-3, to advance to the quarterfinals of the DataHouse Division I state softball tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

The Spartans (17-2-1) will meet fourth-seeded Waiakea (11-3) at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Labasan saw two walks cashed in with two out in the top of the first inning, but she was backed by her teammates in the bottom of the frame when 11 batters came up to score six runs. She allowed three runs, five hits and five walks with four strikeouts in seven innings. Labasan also aided her cause by batting 2 for 4 with two RBI.

"The strike zone was extremely tight tonight," Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said. "It caught us off guard. They came out with a bang. That's the one thing I was telling the girls is the difference between last year and this year is that we can hit. We hit in bunches, so we were really, really lucky."

Tyanna Kaaialii was tagged for eight runs, six earned, 11 hits and five walks with one strikeout in 5 2/3 innings for the Chargers (11-7).

Labasan hit the first batter of the game, Hope Casarez, but had her erased on a double play grounder to second. But Labasan walked the next two batters and saw them cashed in on back-to-back RBI singles from Haley-Alexis Yamaguchi and Taylyn Kimura. Labasan then walked Kaaialii to load the bases before striking out Taylor Shigeta to end the inning.

But the Spartans wasted little time making up the runs three fold. Kanye Tanigawa, Tamia Hirano and Kamalei Labasan hit successive RBI singles and a wild pitch brought home another run before Shearyna helped her own cause with a two-run single to cap the six-run inning.

"They had my back today and scored all those runs," Sheryna said. "So props to them."

She also credited the defensive play. The wind wreaked havoc on fly balls all night, but the fielders stayed with the flights of the ball to make the catch.

Uekawa said it was crucial that the Spartans immediately made up the runs for Sheryna.

"Otherwise, if we didn't score any runs in that first inning, she would've been chasing," Uekawa said. "She'd be overthrowing and throwing a little harder. She's an all-state pitcher. Getting confidence behind her, two, three runs. Can you imagine? She got hit, but it was because they called the zone to hit."

The Spartans added a run in the second on HIrano's RBI double, though Pearl City got that back in the third on Yamaguchi's run-scoring double.

Maryknoll scored again in the fourth with the aid of a two out error on a dropped pop fly.

Five different Spartans had at two hits apiece.