Kamehameha's Mahina Sauer is greeted by her teammates at home plate after launching a solo home run in a win against Punahou. Brien Ing | SL

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MAKIKI — Mahina Sauer picked a good time to get out of her hitting slump as Kamehameha defeated host Punahou, 3-0 in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu contest Saturday morning.

The junior designated hitter went 2 for 3 at the plate and had a solo home run to help the top-ranked Warriors get back into the win column and improve to 9-1-1. Punahou, who entered the game in first place atop the league standings, dropped to 9-2.

"Today I was just focusing on ‘see ball, hit ball,'" Sauer said. It was her first game with a hit since March 25. "The past couple games I think I was just rushing everything — but I knew that my team had my back throughout this whole slump and it really helped motivate me."

Senior pitcher Kamalani Dung (6-1) picked up the win for the Warriors, scattering three hits in a complete game effort. She walked two and had five strikeouts, three of which were inning-ending.

"Kama is growing a lot," said Kamehameha coach James Millwood. "She's becoming more of a pitcher and not just a thrower. She's getting smatter and she's working her different pitches and different areas of the game no matter who's batting. She's way more in command and she doesn't let her emotions get to her."

It was a good bounce back game for Kamehameha, who suffered its first loss of the year against Maryknoll (9-1-1) on Wednesday. The visiting Warriors racked up seven total hits on Punahou ace Nicole Nishizawa.

"When we came back to practice after the loss, we just had a talk and we just knew we had to focus more on working as a team instead of working individual," said Sauer. "By working as a team in this game we were able to get it done."

Punahou also didn't do itself any favors in the contest. The Buffanblu committed four errors and gave up two unearned runs. Kamehameha leadoff hitter Alana Cobb-Adams scored on catcher Sara Jinee Buck's throwing error in the opening frame and Christine Hipa scored on a fielding error in the outfield in the top of the sixth. Kamehameha's only earned run was on Sauer's solo home run in the fourth inning.

Defensively Kamehameha had no trouble throughout the first three innings. Although Dung had no early strikeouts, the Warriors were able to retire the entire Punahou lineup in order.

"This game we really focused on not having to strike everyone out," explained Dung. "Before the game coach told me that this is a good field for grounders because it's a hard run to first, so our idea coming into the game was to get Punahou to ground out."

Punahou got a runner in scoring position in each of the next four innings, but was unable to bring them home. Dung recorded inning-ending strikeouts in the fourth, fifth and sixth inning and a 6-3-4 double play sealed the game for the Warriors in the final frame.

"I thought we did really good today," said Dung. "I'm proud of the team, they've come a long way. This year we're a different team, it's not the same team as usual. Although we got that loss, it's not really affecting us. It's actually making us better this time around. Now we're going to work on playing a perfect game instead of just winning all of our games."