Go West, young girls


The DataHouse Division I state softball tournament has turned into the Oahu Interscholastic Association Western Division Invitational.

For the first time, the semifinals will feature teams from one division. Not league, but the Western Division. Only twice has there been an all-OIA semifinals. In 2006, Mililani, Pearl City and Kapolei from the West and Moanalua from the East were the final four teams. In 2005, the same three West teams were joined by Kailua. Both times ended with an all-OIA West championship. Mililani beat Kapolei, 5-3, in 2005; Pearl City beat Mililani, 2-1, in 2006.

What made Wednesday's quarterfinals at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium impressive was that the four West semifinalists won their games in convincing, if not dominating, fashion. All the wins were shutouts, the first time that has happened in tournament history in either the opening round or quarterfinals. Two resulted in no-hitters, one a one-hitter and the other a two-hitter. The closest margin game, 5-0, was when Kapolei beat Leilehua, also from the OIA West. The Mules had the two hits, meaning the ILH, BIIF and MIL champions combined for one hit.

If there's a sport the OIA dominates in, it's softball. The OIA has 21 of the 39 state titles. The ILH has 14, the MIL 2 and the BIIF and KIF one each. The OIA has 25 runners-up, the ILH 10 and the MIL and BIIF two each. This tournament will mark the 15th time the title game will be an all-OIA affair.

As for the final four for Thursday's semifinals, this is how the teams did head-to-head. Campbell is 7-1, losing to Kapolei in the OIA semifinals. Kapolei is 5-3, suffering two losses to Campbell and one to Mililani. Mililani was 4-4 and Pearl City is 0-8.

Most of the matchups among the four teams were close; two went into extra innings. The starting pitchers from each team – Danielle Cervantes/Elisa Favela of Campbell; Aubree Kim of Mililani; Sadie Kapaku-You of Kapolei; and Tyanna Kaaialii of Pearl City – are clearly the class of the tournament and should provide an entertaining night.

 

 

 

 



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].