Iolani's Spencer Oda laces a ground ball down the third base line for extra bases against Iolani. Brien Ing | SL

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Iolani's Taylor Garcia-Perreira threw a complete game against Punahou, allowing just one run on five hits to earn the victory. Brien Ing | SL

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No.10 ‘Iolani pounded out 11 hits and had a big fourth inning to upend Punahou, 7-1 on their Senior Day at Punahou School on Wednesday afternoon. The Raiders improve to 8-5 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings, while the Buffanblu fall to 7-6. 

‘Iolani rebounded from a lopsided loss to Maryknoll, 11-0 on Monday and were held to five hits for the game. 

“We really worked hard and prepared for this game and we wanted to show what kind of character our team has and how we’re not going to give up after losing a second time to Maryknoll, how we’re going to keep fighting to get to states,” said Vevesi Liilii. 

“That’s kind of been that way all season for us, we have been up and down, we either lose big or win small so it’s nice to see the team coming together and we’re starting to hit our stride right now and hopefully we can put two or three wins together and see what happens after that,” said ‘Iolani assistant coach Lois Manin. 

Vevesi Liilii led the way and batted 2 for 4 including two doubles, an RBI and two runs to lift the Raiders. Pitcher Taylor Garcia-Perreira also went 2 for 4 and hit two doubles and Spencer Oda went 2 for 4 with two doubles and an RBI. 

The Raiders built a comfortable lead, going up 6-0 after they scored four runs on five hits in the top of the fourth inning. Liilii led off and hit a double to centerfield. Cassie Ho hit a single to left field to bring in Liilii. She managed to advance to second and Kayla Seto came in as a courtesy runner. 

Lindsay Teruya managed to get on base on a bunt. Brielle Asato hit a single to center field to bring in Seto and Teruya moved to second. Spencer Oda hit a double to left field to score Teruya and Asato went to third. Asato then scored off of Nishizawa’s wild pitch. 

“I think we were being aggressive at the plate and picking the pitches and I think it worked out for us and the girls were seeing the ball really well, especially Vesi, she hit really well today and it was nice to her do that. It’s something we try to do that every game and have the potential to do that every game and fortunately today it worked out,” said Manin, on the team getting 11 hits. 

‘Iolani refocused after they allowed Katelyn Chagami and Sara Jinee Buck to get on base off of two consecutive fielding errors, one by Jacy Watanabe and another by Kealaulaikalani Gier. Chagami managed to make it to third and Alyssa Rasmussen came in for Buck as a courtesy runner. Shelbie Fujinaga hit a pop out to Gier in foul territory for the first out. Garcia-Perreira walked Nishizawa to load the bases. However, Krystin Wong hit a pop out to third baseman Macy Uyehara and Paige Kawai hit a ground out to Garcia-Perreira to end the inning and prevent the Buffanblu to get on the scoreboard. 

“Our mental game was more on point at that moment, so we tried to keep it going,” said Liilii, on overcoming the first inning. 

“I think the key was that first inning and we got out of it with the bases loaded. We bounced back from those errors and we tried to do that all season and when we do that, we play really well and today was that way,” said Manin. 

The 'Iolani defense stepped up and had two nice double plays, one in the bottom of the fourth inning and another in the bottom of the seventh inning. 

In the top of the second, Garcia-Perreira hit a double to left field and Robi Kodama came in as a courtesy runner. Liilii reached first off of an error by third baseman Heaven Wong and Kodama managed to score. Liilii moved to second and scored off of a fielder’s choice as she beat the tag at home to make it 2-0. 

Punahou got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning to prevent a shutout after Elyse Nakamoto hit a RBI double to center field to bring in Jolie Fujita, who came in for Nishizawa as a courtesy runner. 

‘Iolani finishes the regular season against Saint Francis (0-13) on Apr. 22 while Punahou travels to top-ranked Mid-Pacific (10-3) on the same afternoon.