OIA Softball
No. 2 Kapolei turns tables on No. 1 Campbell, 5-4


   



Fri, Apr 29, 2016 @ [ 5:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kapolei 2 125104
Campbell 1 21461

W: Sadie Kapaku-You    L: Elisa Favela

CAMP: Jocelyn Alo 1-4 run rbi HR; Elisa Favela 5.3 IP 5 ER 2 K
KAP: Holiday Ribac 2-3 run rbi; Sadie Kapaku-You 7.0 IP 2 ER 2 K


Kapolei finally got that Saber-toothed Tiger off its back.

Sadie Kapaku-You pitched out of a seventh-inning jam and drove in two runs as the No. 2 Hurricanes held off No. 1 Campbell, 5-4, Friday night in the semifinals of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I softball tournament at McKinley.

The Hurricanes (12-3), which lost twice to the Sabers during the regular season and several times during the preseason, advance to the title game for the first time since 2013, when they lost to, of course, Campbell, 10-0, in a mercy-rule contest. Kapolei is looking for its first title since 2005, when it made it back-to-back crowns, ironically, both times against Saturday's opponent: Mililani. The Trojans beat Pearl City, 6-0, in the other semifinal Friday.

"It kind of left a bad taste in the kids' mouth," Kapolei coach Tony Saffery said of the Hurricanes' loss to Campbell April 21 at CORP that clinched the Western Division crown for the Sabers. "If we just managed the ball better our last game, I think if we had gone into extra innings we could have pulled it off. This one here, this was fun. I was really happy for the kids."

Added Kapaku-You: "We lost to them in the regular season so getting them now felt really good."

The Sabers (13-1) were handed their first loss of the year, including preseason.  If there's any consolation the Sabers can take is that the only times they won state titles (2010 and 2015) it happened when they failed to win their own league crown.

The Sabers failed to make in-game adjustments to Kapaku-You's pitching.  The loss might be a wake-up call.

"I think it's a good thing," Campbell coach Shag Hermosura reasoned. "It's better now (to lose) than in the states. Hopefully, we can turn things around."

By advancing to the semifinals, the defending state champion Sabers had secured a state berth.

Kapaku-You (10-3) gave up four runs (two earned), six hits and a walk with two strikeouts in her complete-game win.

The right-hander induced 15 ground-ball outs, crediting her outside drop pitches, she said. Although her defense committed four errors, it also made some nice plays, such as left fielder Dallas Pollard-Brownell's sliding catch of a foul fly off the bat of Sissy Pantastico in the seventh inning

Up 5-3, she retired the first two batters in the bottom of the seventh before Jocelyn Alo drilled a solo homer to dead center to pull Campbell to within a run. It got hairy when Danielle Cervantes, who had one previous at-bat during the season, grounded a single to left on 2-0 count to put the tying run on base. But Kapaku-You got Sierra Mariano to ground out to short to end the game.

"She pitches the same way every time we play her," Hermosura said. "We always hit the ball hard right to the (fielders). Can't do nothing…it's a matter of how much they want it."

Sabers' starting pitcher Elisa Favela (5-1) had her second worst outing of the season (she allowed six runs in a 7-6 complete-game win against Leilehua on March 8). She was charged with five runs, 10 hits and a walk and struck out two in 5 1/3 innings. Cervantes finished the last 1 2/3 innings by retiring all five batters she faced.

But it was too little too late for Campbell.

"'Lisa never hit her spots," Hermosura said. "She was too much on the white (over the plate). The pitches that I called were two, three balls out. Four balls out. She still was on the white. After the third inning, she adjusted a little, but I had a feeling I needed to change her already…Her pitches were hanging, it wasn't as if she had a pop on her pitch."

Kapaku-You helped her own cause to start the game. Tayzha Meyers and Ciena Kauhi hit back-to-back singles with Kauhi taking second on the throw back to the infield. Kapaku-You then drilled a 2-1 offering to right to score both runners. An out later, Lii Kaimi walked, but Pollard-Brownell lined out to second baseman Cydney Curran, who ran over to second base for the inning-ending unassisted double play.

Favela help cut her deficit with an RBI single in the bottom of the first to make it 2-1.

But Kapolei continued to solve Favela at the plate. Holiday Ribac led off with a single and an out later, stole second and went to third on Shaycelynn Hoohuli's single to center.  Ribac then scored on Meyers' sacrifice fly to left before Kauhi fouled out to first.

The score stayed that way until the top of the sixth. Kaimi singled with one out and courtesy runner Chanelle Makinney took third on Pollard-Brownell's double to left-center. Ribac and Raina McKean followed with successive RBI singles to open the Hurricanes' lead to 5-1. Ribac, who had stopped at second, took third when right fielder Mariano bobbled the ball. Favela was lifted for Cervantes.

Campbell will host Pearl City for third place at 3 p.m.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].




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