Mid-Pacific's Sierra Terada crosses home plate for the game's first score. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Kiley Oeda makes contact with a pitch against Punahou. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Kaili Ann Akimseu winds up to throws a pitch to the plate against Punahou. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Lindsey Matoi gets a force out of Punahou's Krystin Wong at second base. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Nicole Lopez slides in safely at second against Punahou. Brien Ing | SL

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Punahou's Sarah Sumida winds up to make a throw to first base against Mid-Pacific. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific's Sarah Onishi connects with a Punahou pitch for a double. Brien Ing | SL

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Mid-Pacific Institute took an early lead 5-0 lead in the first three innings and held off Punahou, 6-2 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I game at Punahou School on Monday afternoon. This game was supposed to be the ILH opener for both teams on Mar. 1, but due to heavy rains it was moved to Mar. 7, which also got rained out.

Finally getting to play each other for the first time this season, the Owls scored six runs on five hits and Mid-Pacific’s Sarah Onishi batted 2 for 4 and 3 RBI to lead the way, Nicole Lopez was 1 for 3 including a home run and scored three runs, and Kaili Ann Akimseu went 1 for 3 and an RBI and struck out two batters. 

The Owls improve to 3-3 in the ILH while the Buffanblu fall to 4-3. 

“This year especially, I think more so, I think everyone kind of feels they can beat everybody. So every game you have it’s one of those things who shows up and who wants to play wins the game. The ILH is tough all the time,” said Punahou coach Bobby Makahilahila. 

In the top of the first inning, Punahou pitcher Nicole Nishizawa walked Taylor Ann Oda and then walked Nicole Lopez. Sierra Terada came in as a courtesy runner for Oda. Onishi hit a 2RBI double deep to right field to score Lopez and Terada to take a 2-0 lead. 

“She (Nishizawa) normally throws me inside and she was hoping I wouldn’t hit outside, but I think I was anticipating the outside pitch and I just went with it,” said Sarah Onishi. 

“We were preaching them to start early and continue to battle every inning. In the last game we played, we had a lot of runners on base and didn’t capitalize on it. We focused more on battling and putting the ball in play, hitting it hard somewhere,” said Mid-Pacific coach Alan Inaba. 

In the top of the third inning, lead-off hitter Jenna Kumabe hit a fly out to center fielder Amber Popovich. Oda hit a ground out to third baseman Shelbie Fujinaga, who threw it to first baseman Heaven Wong for the second out. 

“That inning, we started with our first two batters got out. We preach to the girls that the inning isn’t not over until the third out is made. Offensively and defensively, it’s about battling until the third out is made. We stressed to them that, two outs is the best time to rally because the defense sometimes takes a break so they started coming into action today,” said Inaba. 

Nishizawa walked Lopez, who later stole second base. Lindsey Matoi got onto second base after an error from Paige Kawai after the ball bounced off her glove and Lopez scored. Onishi came in and hit a RBI single to right field to bring in Matoi and Kaili Ann Akimseu hit a RBI single between first and second base to score Onishi to take a 5-0 lead. 

“I think I was hoping to get it clean, but I didn’t get it square. It’s not hard you hit sometimes, it’s placement that’s important which drove in a run, I’m okay with that,” said Onishi, on her RBI single. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Akimseu walked Nishizawa and Zoe Hernandez came in as a courtesy runner. Heaven Wong hit a fly out to center fielder Samantha Sakihara for the first out. Krystin Wong hit a single that bounced between first and second to move Hernandez to second base. Kawai’s bunt single advanced Hernandez to third and Wong to second to load the bases. Fujinaga got on base after a fielder’s choice to Lopez who threw it to Oda to tag out Hernandez at home. Jessica Shimoda hit a single grounder into center field to score Kawai and Wong to make it 5-2. However, Elyse Nakamoto hit a ground out to Matoi to end the inning. 

“I think the thing of is we’re capable of it, but it’s the consistency of it. Right now, I was talking to the girls, we are playing in spurts, we were playing up and down. I think we were hitting the ball hard, but we’re hitting the ball right at them. The hard part was she (Akimseu) was throwing it inside and we’re hitting it to the two strongest fielders they have. I think when we hit it up the middle or the right side, we got some runs, but hard to get past Nicole (Lopez) and Lindsey (Matoi) because they’re both ILH all-stars, I give them credit that they kept the ball inside on us and we didn’t make the adjustment,” said Makahilahila. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Oda grounded out to the short stop for the first out. On the next at bat, Lopez socked a home run over the left field fence to make it 6-2. However, Matoi and Onishi hit fly outs to end the inning. 

In the bottom of the sixth, Akimseu forced Krystin Wong to ground out to third and Katelyn Chagami grounded out to Jenna Kumabe. Fujinaga managed to get on base off an error from Oeda, but on the next at bat, Akimseu struck out Nakamoto.  

“When our pitcher (Akimseu) is hitting her spots, and making the batters swing it where she wants, we’re pretty tough. I think our defense is pretty season, a lot of returnees. We don’t expect our pitcher to strike out a lot of people, let them put it in play and our defense will take care of it,” said Inaba. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Hernandez hit a fly out to left fielder Niki Kawabata. Sarah Sumida hit a grounder to Akimseu who threw it to Oeda for the second out and Sara Jinee Buck grounded out to Matoi to end the game. 

“We stress to get the first out of the inning, then minimizes what their offense can do. She was successful, the two innings lead off batters got on, but the other five we got the leadoff batter out, so it helps us out,” said Inaba. 

After losing a tough game to Maryknoll this past weekend, the Owls were glad to get back into the win column to keep pace in the rugged ILH. They play ‘Iolani (4-2), who is currently sitting in third place in the ILH on Wednesday, Mar. 26. 

“Of our six games, the only game we were out of was the Pac-Five game, they took it to us. We lost to Kamehameha and Maryknoll and we battled them to the end. We just trying to get better each day and whatever happens, happens,” said Inaba. 

“We feel good, we feel we’re gaining momentum,” said Onishi on the victory. 

Punahou will take a day off tomorrow and get back to work as they play Pac-Five on Mar. 29 at 2 pm. Punahou and Mid-Pacific will play each other again on Apr. 22 in the last regular season game.