Fourth inning outburst propels Kapolei past Campbell, into league title game

Kapolei's Puakea Milbourne (2) was greeted at home plate after hitting a home run in the fourth inning against Campbell in the OIA Division I semifinal at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. CJ Caraang | SL

At Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium on Friday, the Kapolei Hurricanes used a five-run fourth inning to blow by the Campbell Sabers, 9-3, and into the Oʻahu Interscholastic Association Division I title game.

Campbell took a long time to score a run while Kapolei shot out of the gate via a Puakea Milbourne run. Milbourne was in beast mode going a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate. Milbourne's home run was the first of three homers hit by the Hurricanes in the contest.

After a scoreless second inning, Kapolei turned on the power. Moani Ioane belted a two run homer to extend the Hurricanes lead to 3-0.

"If I do bad, I can trust my teammates to have my back," Ioane said.

From that point on, it was all Kapolei. Pitcher Jerzie Liana logged a home run in the fourth inning that scored Chenoa Cainglit and Daelyn Stephens, and they were not done yet! An additional solo homer from Milbourne kept the fire blazing; a Maka Flores single allowed Ioane to score to make it 8-0 Kapolei.

"We started studying Taryn [Irimata] and her patterns," Ioane added.

It worked. Irimata was held to a single strikeout and a walk in the loss.

It appeared a mercy rule would apply soon, but that was not to be the case.

After a scoreless fifth inning, Campbell finally got on the board in the sixth inning thanks to a Lorraine Alo solo homer, but Kapolei responded at the bottom of the sixth.

With two outs, Kapolei logged another run on a Cheylene Valdez-Asato hit. It was 9-1 Kapolei, but it appeared that Campbell was putting together a last-ditch effort to upset things.

"We just gotta stay strong and back up our pitcher and know what we gotta do," Ioane said.

Paige Nakashima logged a hit in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. It resulted in two runs scored by Teiah Keliiholokai and Jaeda Abcede. Unfortunately for Campbell, Liana shut the door a batter later with the game-winning strikeout; Liana had four strikeouts in the win.

Kapolei improved to 10-2-0 overall while Campbell fell to 7-6-0. Kapolei will return to Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium on Saturday, Apr. 30 at 7 p.m. to face off with Mililani in the title game.