No. 6 Saints blast five homers to beat Warriors


Saint Francis waits at home plate after slamming one of its five home runs on the afternoon. Leighland Tagawa | SL

KAPALAMA — Kaena Keliinoi and Sammie Ofoia combined 12 RBIs and two home runs each, and No. 6 Saint Francis pounded host Kamehameha, 18-3, in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu softball game that was called after five innings because of the 10-run differential mercy rule.

The Saints (7-3) bounced back in grand fashion after having their six-game win streak snapped by Iolani over the weekend in handing the Warriors (5-4) their fourth consecutive loss after a 5-0 start.

"Didn't really faze us," Keliinoi said of having to play the Warriors on their home field. "We just wanted to bounce back (from the loss to Iolani), get a win, hopefully take home the ILH (title) outright and tell the people that, ‘Yeah, a D2 team can take the ILH.'"

Keliinoi batted 4 for 5 with two three-run homers and drove in a season-high seven runs. She now has six homers on the season. It was her first multi-homer game since the D2 state semifinals last season.

Ofoia was 3 for 3 with a two-run and solo homers. She drove in runs in all four plate appearances, one on a hit batsman with the bases loaded and the other on an RBI single. Her fifth and sixth homers of the season also were her first since last year's D2 state first round. She was not surprised by her team's hitting prowess.

"I wasn't really surprised, to be honest," Ofoia said. "I really believe my team can come out and hit. I was really proud of them when they did."

Kailee Mahelona added a two-run homer of her own in the Spartans' 17-hit attack.

It looked like it would be a slugfest from the start, as the Saints took a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning. But the Warriors returned the favor with three runs in the bottom half on Kyler Stephen's three-run homer after an intentional walk to Dallas Millwood.

Then Saint Francis sent 15 batters to the plate in a 10-run second inning against Warriors' starter Reese Mokuau, a victim of two errors in the inning that made all 10 runs unearned. Every Saints player in the starting lineup scored in the inning (Aulani Garcia scored twice) that saw Keliinoi, Ofoia and Mahelona homer.

The Saints added a run in each of the next two innings before sealing the game with a four-run fifth, the last runs coming on Keliinoi's second three-run shot of the game.

The Warriors did not leave without a fight, sending up six consecutive pinch hitters and loading the bases before Mahelona, who came in to pitch the final inning, struck out Bryanna DeAguiar to mercifully end the game.

Sierra Kupihea picked up the win for the Saints. She allowed three runs, four hits and four walks with three strikeouts in four innings. After the shaky first, no Warrior reached third base against her in the ensuing three innings.



Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].