Roosevelt's Mari Foster comes in to score after her solo home run to start the bottom of the third inning. CJ Caraang | SL

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_18041518_ROOSCP.jpg - CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — Mari Foster highlighted a five-run third inning with a lead-off home run and No. 10 Roosevelt beat Kaiser, 8-4, on a rainy Saturday night at McKinley's Tiger Softball Stadium and captured the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I East title.

The game was called in the bottom of the fifth — an official game since the Rough Riders (11-1) were the home team — because of inclement weather. The game had several field maintenance delays. Whoever won this game was going to be the division champion. Had Kaiser won, both would have been 10-2, but the Cougars would have swept the season series.

The second game of the scheduled doubleheader between Mililani and Pearl City was called off before the end of the Kaiser-Roosevelt contest.

"We just treated it as any other game," Roosevelt interim coach Kris Fujii-Dias said. "We didn't want to have that additional pressure. We knew we had a good chance (to win). The girls worked hard every day. They know what they gotta do, so for them it's an accomplishment. That's all that matters."

Kaiser coach Mitch Matsumoto said he thought the game should have been replayed in its entirety, citing a similar game last year against Moanalua that was called in the ninth inning because of rain with Kaiser leading, 10-6. However, the difference between that game and the one against Roosevelt is last year's game was called in the bottom of the ninth. By league rules, the score reverts back to the previous inning, when the score was 6-6. That game officially ended in a 6-6 tie so it had to be replayed from the start, OIA umpire commissioner Walter Yamatsuka said.

By Saturday's circumstances, five innings is considered an official game.

The Cougars (9-3) fell into a tie for second with Moanalua (9-3). Both teams split their two meetings, but Kaiser beat Roosevelt once, while Moanalua was swept by the Rough Riders so the Cougars won quality of wins tiebreaker. The top two seeds of each division draw first-round byes for the 12-team OIA tournament.

Jaeda Cabunoc pitched the distance for Roosevelt, allowing four runs, four hits and three walks, while striking out five.

Kaiser's Christiana Aholelei was tagged with the loss, allowing eight runs (seven earned), seven hits and seven walks with two strikeouts. Sister Precious Aholelei pitched a scoreless frame with two strikeouts.

Roosevelt wasted little time supporting Cabunoc with a two-run first. Tiani Sniffen (2 for 3) doubled home a run and Mika Emoto singled in the second one.

Kaiser tied the game at 2 in the top of the third on Ivane Aholelei's two-run home run to left-center.

But Roosevelt sent eight batters to the plate in a five-run third. After Foster's lead-off homer, Emoto walked before Kanilehua Pitoy flied out to left. Cabunoc and Jadalee Takara walked to the load the bases before Angel-Leigh Ching reached on a two-base error that brought home two runs to make it 5-2. Wild pitches accounted for the next two runs.

Roosevelt made it 8-2 in the fourth when Pitoy walked with the bases loaded. After a 1-1 count on Cabunoc, Christiana Aholelei was pulled for Precious Aholelei, who retired three batters in a row — two with strikeouts — to get out of the inning.

Kaiser added two in the top of the fifth on a wild pitch and Precious Aholelei's RBI double to cut the Cougars' deficit in half.

In the bottom of the fifth, Maya Nakamura walked and took third on Kylie Kawamura's double before the strongest downpour of the night came and forced the end of the game.