Punahou holds off 'Iolani in eight innings, 10-7


Punahou shortstop Mysha Sataraka slides in safely with a double against 'Iolani. Brien Ing | SL
Punahou withstood a four-run 'Iolani comeback in bottom of the 7th, rallying to score five runs of their own in the top of the 8th, then holding on to earn the victory, 10-7.

After two walks to open the bottom of the seventh for 'Iolani, the Buffanblu would retire the next two batters in succession, bringing the Raiders down to their final out.

But Ula Reis-Moniz would muscle a two-out single to center, scoring Taylor Garcia-Perreira and Lindsay Teruya. Amanda McCaskill would follow with a single to right, and Miki Sylva would be hit by a pitch to load the bases for Alyssa Espiritu, who would lace a double up the middle to bring home two runs, tying the score at 5-all.

Following 'Iolani's four-run outburst to send the game into extra innings, it would now be Punahou's turn to respond, and Buffanblu did that and then some.

Leading off the eighth, Arianna Hashimoto reached first after taking a pitch to the helmet, Reina Furuya drew a walk on the next at-bat, and Kaylin Okuma's bunt single would load the bases.

That would bring up Mysha Sataraka, who would come up clutch, knocking a bases-clearing double to right to give the Buffanblu an 8-5 advantage.

"I give total props to the three (runners) who got on and our whole entire team for cheering them because if we didn't have that momentum going into that, it wouldn't have turned out like it did." said Sataraka.

"I wasn't trying to hit it like that, but I kind of got lucky, and our baserunners ran very hard and they scored."

On the next at-bat, Thalen Masada would beat out a throw to first following a well-placed bunt down the first-base line, bringing in Sataraka,. Masada would then proceed to swipe second, and then third base, coming home to score on an errant throw to extend the Buffanblu lead to 10-5.

But just as 'Iolani found a way to rally back for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra frames, the Raiders would attempt to mount another comeback in the last of the eighth.

Brielle Asato would lead off the inning by beating out a throw for an infield single, and Kirstyn Namba's triple to left on the next at-bat would bring home Asato.

Then, Nalani Taniguchi would step up and rocket a single just inside the third base line that would bring home Namba, trimming the lead to 10-7 with no outs.

Following a pop out to second to record the first out in the inning for 'Iolani, McCaskill would single up the middle to move Taniguchi to 2nd, putting the tying run at the plate.

But starter Jaci Young, who re-entered in the eighth after pitching the first six innings, would record her second strikeout of the afternoon for the second out, and an alert Furuya would rifle a throw to third to catch 'Iolani trying to steal third to end the game.

Young, who would allow two earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and one walk in seven innings of work, was quick to credit the defense working behind her.

"Our defense played super good, so I had a lot of faith in them... all I had to do was pitch it on the outside where Reina (Furuya) was calling it, and the defense would do the work." she said.

Furuya finished 3-for-5 from the plate, with a home run and two RBI, and Sataraka went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and three RBIs for Punahou.

Reis-Moniz was 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs for 'Iolani.


Reach Brien Ing at [email protected].