'Iolani rallies past MPI, 3-2

'Iolani starter Nalani Taniguchi earned a complete game victory over Mid-Pacific. Brien Ing | SL

Nalani Taniguchi pitched a three-hitter and 'Iolani overcame a 2-0 deficit with two runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh Monday as the Raiders rallied past Mid-Pacific, 3-2, in Interscholastic League of Honolulu softball action.

The victory at MPI's idyllic Frear Field improved 'Iolani to 10-3 in the ILH, 2-1 in the second round. The Owls, who won the league's first round, fell to 9-2, 1-1.

Barely two days earlier, the Raiders lost to Punahou, 8-5, after trailing 3-0 in the first inning and 8-0 in the fourth.

"Punahou played great and the luck was just not there for us that day," said Taniguchi, a junior right-hander. "After the game, we talked about what we had to do, and we really want to get to the state tournament. We took something from that game, tried to build off of it and go strong today. We wanted to win this game really bad."

Things did not look so great early on, though, as Mid-Pacific took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning after scoring on a wild pitch and an error. The Owls held that lead through five innings behind starting pitcher Keiki Carlos, who shut out 'Iolani over eight frames on March 29.

She allowed only two hits through five innings yesterday, but Kim Souza led off the sixth with a single to left and Alex Masaquel followed with a towering blast that bounced off the top of the center field fence and back onto the field for a run-scoring double. Masaquel then advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on Amanda McCaskill's squeeze bunt.

The Raiders took the lead in the seventh after Kirstyn Namba led off with a walk, advanced to second on Kaleen Terayama's sacrifice bunt, to third on an infield error and scored on Lahela Usui's single to left.

Souza went 2 for 4 and Usui went 2 for 3. MPI played without two of its best hitters, third baseman Tasi Docktor and first baseman Tori Hamura, both of whom were injured during a freak accident at practice on Saturday.

Docktor suffered a right knee injury; Owls coach Willie Quinn said they are awaiting test results to determine the exact extent of any ligament tear. Hamura is nursing a bad bruise on her right (throwing) arm.

"We don't blame the loss on that, we're not looking for excuses," Quinn said. "The other girls can do the job, but today we didn't get the base hits we needed."