OIA Softball
Kaaialii, Obara lead No. 6 Pearl City past Kailua, 4-2


  



Wed, May 6, 2015 @ [ 3:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Pearl City 1 000201451
Kailua 0 0 00020231

W: Tyanna Kaaialii    L: Dyani Cummings-Lani    SV: Kristin Frost

KAIL: Moani Kupahu 1-3 run rbi dbl; Dyani Cummings-Lani 7.0 IP 4 ER
PC: Darian Obara 3-4 2 rbi; Tyanna Kaaialii 5.6 IP 2 ER 11 K


KAILUA — Chad Obara has a luxury not many softball coaches enjoy: two go-to pitchers.

Pearl City rode Tyanna Kaaialii for 5 2/3 innings before turning to Kristin Frost to close it out in a 4-2 win over Kailua Wednesday afternoon in a quarterfinal game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I Tournament at Bernard Victor Field.

The Chargers, who are ranked sixth in the ScoringLive/OC16 Softball Power Rankings, improved to 11-3 with their fifth consecutive win and will play West top-seed Campbell in a 5 p.m. semifinal Thursday at McKinley. They also clinched one of six league berths into next week's DataHouse/Hawaii High School Athletic Association State Championships.

"It feels good to get the state berth, but definitely not satisfying yet," said Kaaialii, who struck out a season-high 11 batters. "I guess today I was lucky enough to have my stuff and was able to pound the strike zone and get those strikeouts and help my team to get a win."

Kaaialii had a no-hitter going through five innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth, when she surrendered back-to-back two-out doubles by Moani Kupahu and Taufau Williams, the Surfriders' third and fourth batters, respectively. Kupahu's line shot to left field plated Robi Lono and Kupahu came around to score on Williams' blast to deep center.

"She threw very well and kept her composure, she just lost a little bit of command in that sixth inning and got hit hard, but overall she did her job," Pearl City coach Chad Obara said of his sophomore pitcher. "She throws like that every outing, but today when she missed, she missed well prior to that sixth inning. The missed spots were good misses until that sixth inning and then she put ‘em on their bats in that sixth inning."

With Williams representing the potential-tying run in scoring position, Obara lifted Kaaialii in favor of senior Kristin Frost, who threw a four-inning no-hitter against McKinley just a day prior.

Frost got Lei Makua to ground out to Taylyn Kimura at third for the final out of the inning, before shutting the door in the seventh for the save.

"It's invaluable just to know that if we got trouble, I got somebody that I can bring in. It makes me not have to be such a good coach," said Obara.

Offensively, the Chargers were led by sophomore Darian Obara, who batted 3 for 4 and drove in a pair of runs.

"She stayed within herself and played her game today and I think that helped feed the success she had today," coach Obara said of his daughter.

Obara got her team on the board in the top of the first inning with an RBI single to right field that scored Hope Casarez, which Kaaialii said helped put her at ease in the pitching circle.

"Definitely a big, big help, because it just changes your mindset when you're pitching with a lead and you know your teammates have your back to get those runs in," Kaaialii said.

Kylie Tasaki scored on a squeeze play and Noel Saunders, who laid down the bunt to plate Tasaki, came around to score on a Natalie Kang sacrifice fly to add a pair of Pearl City runs in the top of the fifth.

"Our execution throughout the year has been pretty good, so it puts a little bit of pressure on defenses if we're able to execute and so far it's been okay," the elder Pbara said. We try to use it as much as possible."

The Chargers added an insurance run on Obara's RBI single that plated Casarez in the seventh inning.

"I was just trying to get the job done for my team and my pitcher and Hope did a really good job getting on base before me, so I was just really glad that I could score her for my team," Darian Obara said.

Kaaialii improved to 7-1 on the year with a 1.93 ERA.

"I knew it wasn't going to be an easy game, so I was going in it with the mindset that any pitcher would: throw strikes and hit my spots, pitch as hard as I can and don't give up," Kaaialii said.

Freshman Dyani Cummings-Lani took the loss for Kailua. She allowed five hits over seven innings, struck out two and walked one.

After the win, the Chargers quickly turned their sights to Campbell, which has beaten them twice already this season.

"It's just a big relief that we made it to states, but right now the focus is Campbell and we're just preparing ourselves for that game and going one game at a time," Darian Obara said. "We're not focusing too much on states right now, because it's not the main focus."

Kailua, the East second seed, fell to 8-5 and will host Leilehua in a 3 p.m. consolation game Thursday.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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