Punahou's Bailey Akimseu was 2-for-3 on the afternoon with a double and 2 runs batted in to help lift the Buffanblu to a win over Maryknoll. Brien Ing | SL

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MAKIKI — The Punahou softball team found itself in a four-run deficit and down to its final five outs against Maryknoll Thursday afternoon, but still found a way to win.

The Buffanblu sent eight batters to the plate and were aided by three consecutive walks and three Spartans' errors in a five-run sixth inning to rally to a 5-4 win on their home field. They improved to 2-0 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I standings, while the Spartans fell to 1-1.

"It's interesting because even in the preseason the girls would play and even when we would fall behind, you still knew they had something in them," Punahou coach Bob Makahilahila said.

Behind the steady pitching of starter Shearyna Labasan, Maryknoll built a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. Labasan struck out seven batters through her first four innings of work, including all three she faced in the second inning.

However, things unraveled in the sixth for Labasan and the Spartans.

Pinch-hitter Kawailana Mielke drew a one-out walk to start the rally. Sarah Sumida then worked the count full before taking ball four and clean-up hitter Nicole Nishizawa did the same to load the bases. Krystin Wong then reached on a fielding error, which allowed Mielke to score. A second error on the play was assessed to Maryknoll, which allowed Sumida to score and Lauryn Tachino — the courtesy runner for Nishizawa — to advance to third. Two batters later, Bailey Akimseu doubled to right center, which brought home both Tachino and Wong.

"Shearyna, I have to give her credit, she's a very good pitcher and I knew when I went up I had to defend my team by bringing back runs and I knew that (Nishizawa) was working her best to keep us in it and I just felt I had to do my job up there and bring in the runs," said Akimseu, who batted 2 for 3 after striking out in her first at-bat. "After seeing a couple of her pitches, I knew how I had to adjust up there and that's what I did."

Alyssa Rasmussen replaced Akimseu as her courtesy runner at second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring the go-ahead on a throwing error by the Spartans' catcher on an attempted backdoor play at third.

"Coming back in the sixth inning was pretty intense for all of us," Akimseu said, a freshman designated player. "We were pretty down at first, but we knew that we had to get back."

Three of the four walks allowed by Labasan Thursday came in the sixth inning.

"Don't get me wrong in any way, or think that it's any kind of an excuse, but this week is a bad week for us because we're playing Thursday, but we should not have played this whole week because the seniors have their presentation, so they haven't been at practice and our third baseman and our pitcher just weren't in shape and we got by, but toward the end it kind of caught up, because (Labasan) is not like that," Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said.

After giving up three runs in the top of the sixth, Nishizawa — who went the distance for Punahou — overcame hitting the leadoff batter in the top of the seventh and got the final three outs to seal the come-from-behind win.

"Definitely I had to dig deep again and I had a lot of support from my teammates and my coaches, because we knew we could do it and we knew we had it in us, so I think that really helped me and the rest of the team pull together to get the win," said Nishizawa, who allowed four hits, walked four batters and struck out one. "I struggled a little bit today. I couldn't find some of my pitches, but (catcher Sara Jinee) Buck called an excellent game today, so that really kept us in the game, as well as our outstanding defense. I give credit to my 'D' for keeping us in the game."

Maryknoll took the lead in the top of the fourth when Mylee Enos' one-out single to left field plated Bree Soma. It added three runs in the sixth inning when Kamalei Labasan drove in two runs wither her two-out single to score Tamia Hirano and Nohea Hee and Kanoe Tanigawa scored on a Punahou error.

"There's no doubt we let this one slip away," Uekawa said. "We had the opportunity to win and you know what, give all the kudos in the world to Punahou. They came to play and they were going to fight us all the way until the last out and I think that was a big difference today."

Uekawa — whose team qualified for the state tournament last season — is hoping the early loss will prove to be a blessing in disguise.

"It's a good loss, because it's like what they call a good awakening," Uekawa said. "We've just been getting by like no problem (in the preseason), so sometimes losses like this are better than smashing wins, so we'll take our losses."

Punahou, meanwhile, is hoping to parlay the win into a hot streak as it plays Sacred Hearts (0-2) Saturday and Pac-Five (0-2) Wednesday.

"I think this win gives us a lot of momentum knowing that this is one of the top teams that we just played and having a win brings up our courage to keep going," Akimseu said.

The Spartans visit Mid-Pacific (2-0) Monday and Kamehameha (2-0) Wednesday.