Punahou's Heaven Wong collected two hits, scored two runs and drove in two more in a win over Mid-Pacific. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA — Punahou's late-inning heroics are becoming a thing of habit.

Kennedy Ishii hit a two-out, bases-clearing double in the top of the sixth inning and Heaven Wong drove in two other runs to help eighth-ranked Punahou rally to a 6-4 win over host Mid-Pacific Wednesday afternoon.

The Buffanblu scored all of their runs in the final three innings to overcome a one-run deficit. They won their second straight game in similar fashion to improve to 2-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu.

"We don't seem to get going until after the fourth inning. We're trying to fix that right now but we're still trying to figure out how to get ourselves going," Punahou coach Bob Makahilahila said. "Don't get me wrong, the thing is it's good to have it, but it would be nice to get something going from the first inning instead of waiting all the way till the fourth inning."

Against Iolani on Saturday, the Buffanblu trailed 4-0 after four innings, but scored three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to complete the come-from-behind win.

"One of the coaches said this is probably the best fifth-, sixth-, seventh-inning team in the state because we've been doing that all offseason, preseason and in (regular-season) games, so we've just got to put it together," Makahilahila said."

Wong got the Punahou offense going with a first-pitch, opposite-field home run to lead off the top of the fifth and tie it at 1.

"I was looking for that outside pitch, she threw it kind of high and I just took it," said Wong, a senior third baseman. "I knew I kind of wanted to hit it to right center, so that's what I was thinking in my head."

One inning later Janell Sato walked, Kawai Meilke reached on a fielder's choice and Wong reached on an error to load the bases for Ishii, who hit a 1-0 pitch over the head of Owls' right fielder Breeze-Lyn Morita.

"That was awesome; that was so clutch of her," Wong said of Ishii. "I'm really proud of her because I know that sometimes she might get down on herself, but that was really clutch and I hope that builds her confidence."

It was Ishii's first game at the top of the order. The second basemen did not hit — she was the flex player — in a season-opening loss at Kamehameha last week and batted ninth against Iolani Saturday. Ishii and center fielder Alyssa Rasmussen swapped spots in the batting lineup Wednesday.

"You know, it's funny because she was our leadoff batter but she hit like a No. 3 batter at that time," Makahilahila said. "People look at her and they take her size for granted, but she can rip. She's got legitimate power that way — line drive power — but she's also very nimble in terms of looking at balls, taking balls, being able to put bunts down, so that's really why she's leading off because she's got good judgement on balls for us, but I was happy for her because that one she just took out."

Mid-Pacific coach Alan Inaba credited Wong, who batted eighth, for capitalizing on a mistake pitch.

"I was kind of surprised that she was hitting so down in the order," Inaba said. "We know she can hit, we've seen her how many years already, but we just left a ball up in the zone and she hit it out — a couple balls actually."

Punahou added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh when Sato singled in courtesy runner Lauryn Tachino and two batters later, Wong belted a triple to bring Meilke home all the way from first.

Wong saw eight pitches in the at-bat. She fouled off four pitches — all pulled down the left field line — before going the other way for her second RBI.

"I knew I had two strikes, I was trying to be really aggressive and she was trying to throw those change-ups and then I remembered that I took that ball — my home run — over the fence to right center and I just thought that again and I got that triple," Wong said.

Wong has hit in all three games so far this year and is batting .364.

"It was great because she's been trying to work her way back in," Makahilahila said of Wong. "She just got through with basketball, so she really didn't have a full preseason and now she's starting to come around. Once we can get her going that's going to be a powerful tool for us in the lineup."

Skylar Tanaka drove in all four of MPI's runs. Her bases-loaded, two-out bloop single to score Lia Nakamoto in the third inning gave the Owls a 1-0 lead. She also hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh.

"We hit the ball throughout the game, but it was just that Punahou's defense was good," Inaba said. "They made plays and we hit some balls right at them."

Jolie Fujita scattered 10 hits over 6 1/3 innings with three strikeouts against one walk and was the winning pitcher. Lauren Mooney recorded the final two outs for Punahou, which pulled into a tie for third with Iolani in the ILH Division I standings.

Freshman Jaeda Cabunoc went the distance for MPI. She allowed 11 hits with two strikeouts and one walk.

The Owls, who fell to 0-3 and are the lone remaining winless D1 team in the ILH, started all five of its freshmen Wednesday.

"With our team there's a lot of new players this year, so they're just trying to get used to the varsity level, the speed of the game and stuff," Inaba said. "We've been kind of up and down so we're just trying to be consistent."