No. 4 Iolani rallies to trounce No. 9 Kaiser in opening round

Mia Carbonell (center) celebrates with her teammates at home plate after her three RBI home run reclaimed the lead for the Raiders. Brandon Ching | SL

MANOA — No. 4 Iolani found themselves down early but poured in nine runs in the fifth to gash No. 9 Kaiser, 14-3 in five innings in the DataHouse/HHSAA Division I Softball State Championships opening round at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

The Raiders (14-5 overall) advance to the quarterfinal round to face fourth seeded Waiakea at 2 p.m.

The Cougars (12-4 overall), the only OIA East team, drops to face Maui (10-4 overall) in the consolation round on Wednesday at 9:15 am.

Catcher and clean up hitter Mia Carbonell doubled and drove in five total runs and her three RBI home run in the fourth provided a spark to give Iolani the lead and never looked back.

Rylie Yamasaki's double and Kylie Ifuku's home run to left center gave the Cougars a 3-0 lead on the ILH runner ups.

After two scoreless frames, the Raiders chipped away in the third. Harley Acosta's two-out double to right got Iolani on the scoreboard. Kaiser made a pitching change from Yamasaki to Keira Uegawachi. Natalie Ching plated Acosta, who beat the tag at home to trail, 3-2.

"We pick ourselves up. We talk a lot within the team about picking each other up. I think we did very good today," Carbonell said.

Milla Fukuda and Kennadie Tsue each walked that led to the Cougars switching from Kalie Otani to Yamasaki. Fukuda and Tsue each moved a base on a wild pitch. Carbonell worked a full count before going yard to give Iolani the lead for good.

"I had to change my mindset and sit on the ball a lot longer. My second at bat wasn't very successful, I popped out. I made the adjustment and kept my hands up. It was right down the middle," Carbonell explained.

Iolani erupted for nine runs in the fifth to put away the Cougars. Kaiser got the first two outs, but the Raiders managed to score nine runs on seven hits and two Cougar errors. Fukuda brought in three runs on a double and bases-loaded walk and Carbonell doubled for two runs. Ching and Acoba each plated runs with base hits.

"We were kinda surprised when they went from one to another to another. We made adjustments," Carbonell said of the pitching changes. "We did what we had to do, put the ball in ground, hard ground balls, line drives. If she walks us, she walks us. Take the extra base."

Kiara Baba (7-3) picked up the win after pitching four innings with five strike outs and a walk.

Kaiser went through four pitchers and Otani was tagged with the loss.

Reach Brandon Ching at [email protected].