'Iolani tops St. Francis to halt three-game skid


'Iolani's Ula Reis-Moniz laces a ball down the third base line against Saint Francis. Brien Ing | SL
'Iolani got back on the winning track with a 7-2 victory over Saint Francis in a Monday afternoon affair at Ala Wai Field.

Starter Nalani Taniguchi pitched well in her return to the mound after an extended absence, scattering 10 hits and allowing just two seventh-inning runs in a complete game victory, putting a much-needed end to a streak of losses for the Raiders.

"Today I went in, and my pitches were just working for me. My changeup was working and they were hitting the rise balls how they should be, where its popping up, so we were getting a lot of easier outs." said Taniguchi.

'Iolani opened up the scoring in the bottom of the third, sparked by a lead-off double by Taniguchi. Taniguchi was called out trying to reach third on a Ula Reis-Moniz single, but Reis-Moniz would move up to second during the play, and would come home on Miki Sylva's bloop single to center.

In the fourth, the Raiders would add another run on Karley Devens bunt single that brought in Lindsay Teruya from third base, and would open up the lead even further in fifth.

Following a lead-off single by Reis-Moniz, Amanda McCaskill would add a double to left field that would put runners and second and third. Sylva would single on the next at-bat to bring home two runs, and would later come home on a throwing error to extend the lead to 5-0.

The Saints would threaten in the sixth, as Nalani Antonio's single followed by two errors would put runners on second and third with 2 outs, and a walk on the next batter would load the bases. But Taniguchi would get the next batter to hit a relatively routine grounder to third to put an end to the scoring chance.

"The defense worked better, and were communicating more, making the plays and throws." added Taniguchi.

Two more runs would come home in the bottom of the sixth, one off of a hit by Reis-Moniz, and the other on the legs of Reis-Moniz, who would score from third on a sacrifice fly.

Saint Francis would rally in the top of the seventh for two runs, but Taniguchi would record the final out via strikeout to end it.

"They kept their composure pretty well" said Saints head coach Randy Langsi of his team's performance. "We still got a lot of growing to do... we have a very young team."

The usually long-ball minded Reis-Moniz would lead the way with a 4-for-4 performance at the plate, all singles, adding to that 3 runs scored and a run batted in.

"I saw that they (the Saint Francis outfield) were playing pretty deep on me, and I know that if I hit it my hardest it probably would just go right to their glove. So I figured I would just take something off of it, hopefully it would land right in." said Reis-Moniz.


Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].