No. 9 Mililani 4, Waiakea 3

Cherise Mori's two-run single in the top of the seventh inning helped No. 9 Mililani rally to a 4-3 win over Waiakea in the quarterfinals of the DataHouse/HHSAA Division I Softball State Championships at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

The Trojans, who finished sixth in the Oahu Interscholastic Association tournament last month, evened their season record to 9-9 with the win. They will play third-ranked Leilehua at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the tournament semifinals.

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion and tournament third-seeded Warriors suffered their first loss to fall to 17-1. They will play No. 8 Maryknoll at 2 p.m. Thursday in a fifth-place semifinal at McKinley.

Mililani posted 10 hits for the game from seven different players. Tracie Okumura batted 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI, Kayla Bello was 2 for 3 with a double and Ashlyn Kashima was 2 for 3 with a run scored.

The Trojans opened the scoring on Okumura's two-out RBI-single in the top of the first inning, but Waiakea plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the third to pull ahead.

Gracie Patao led off the frame with a single before taking second base on a passed ball. After the next two batters struck out, Alize Kaapana reached on a fielding error by Mori. Patao was off and running on contact and scored after Mori's throw home short-hopped catcher Katie Carlos and deflected away, allowing Kaapana to take second.

Kaapana scored one batter later on a two-out RBI-single by Shaily Moses.

The Warriors made it a 3-1 lead after Kelsie Imai led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a double, stole third and came home on a wild pitch.

Mililani chipped away at the lead in the sixth inning. Carlos led off with a double and scored on Kobe Brown's RBI-double two batters later to cut the Waiakea lead to 4-2.

Bello opened the top of the seventh inning with a double to the gap in left center and Kashima followed with a bunt single.

"That was so important because she started up our rally and gave us faith that we could do it," Mori said of Bello's double.

Both base runners moved up 90 feet on Kamie Matsukawa's sacrifice bunt to set-up Mori's chance at redemption.

Mori took the first pitch from Waiakea pitcher Halee Sweat before lining a base hit that split the left and center fielders and allowed Kaena Coleman — the pinch running for Bello — to score the tying run, as well as Kashima for the go-ahead score.

"I saw an opportunity with runners on second and third and as long as I got a base hit or moved them over then that would help our team out a lot," said Mori, a junior second baseman.

"That's huge for her. She was due, so at least she clutched up at the right time," Mililani coach Rose Antonio said.

Patao batted 2 for 3 and Moses was for 2 for 4 to lead the Warriors offensively. Sweat went the distance and allowed 10 hits with one strikeout.

"They put up a good fight. They're a good, scrappy team out there and they gave us a good game," Antonio said. "We showed some fight, too. The girls refused to give up. We were hitting the ball hard, but just straight at people and it didn't have eyes early on, but finally the ball had eyes."

Cheyenne Ardona picked up her second complete-game victory in as many days to improve to 5-1 on the season. The 6-foot-2 senior allowed three runs — only one of them earned — on six hits. She scattered three walks and tied her season-high mark of nine strikeouts.

"She did really good today again," Antonio said, whose team went 5-7 in the regular season and finished fifth in the seven-team OIA Division I West. "So far it's been a good two days. It's a different team out there right now."