Mid-Pacific blasts Punahou to win third straight ILH title

Mid-Pacific players celebrate at home plate after a run scored against Punahou. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Keiki Carlos pitched a five-hitter and went 2 for 3 with a grand slam and five RBIs yesterday to help Mid-Pacific blow past Punahou, 17-6, and win its third straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu softball championship.

The Owls finished the ILH regular season at 14-2 and earned the league's top seed and first-round bye in the DataHouse State Championships May 2-5 at Rainbow Wahine Stadium. The Buffanblu fell to 12-4 with their second straight loss and will need to win the ILH's postseason tournament for the league's third and final state tournament berth.

Kamehameha (13-3) clinched the second-place berth with a 6-3 victory over Saint Francis yesterday.

"All the teams are good, but we didn't put too much pressure on ourselves," said Carlos, a right-handed senior who will play for the University of Hawai'i next year. "Our coach (Willie Quinn) told us if we just play our game -- nothing more, nothing less -- things should work our way."

MPI started hot yesterday, taking a quick 2-0 lead on Tasi Docktor's two-run homer with no outs in the top of the first inning. Carlos followed with a single and courtesy runner later scored on Lindsey Matoi's infield single to make it 3-0.

But Punahou answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, after a two-out, two-run throwing error and Jaci Young's two-run triple.

The Owls then scored four in the third on an outfield error, Karis Kochi's RBI bunt single and Kacy Aoki's two-run double to make it 7-4. The Buffanblu closed it to 7-5 on Kylie Popovich's two-out single.

MPI then exploded for eight runs in the fourth, highlighted by RBI singles from Kiley Oeda and Kochi and Carlos' two-out grand slam. Punahou got a run back in the bottom of the fourth on Sarah Sumida's run-scoring pinch single, but the Owls made it 17-6 after RBI singles from Jordan Joy and Aoki in the top of the fifth and then Carlos shut the door in the bottom half to end the game via the 10-run rule.

"They got key hits at the key times," Buffanblu coach Bob Makahilahila said of the Owls. "They're the defending ILH and state champs, and they played like it today."

Quinn said like the league titles won in 2010 and 2011, this one was not won easily.

"We had our trials this season, we had a couple injuries that threw a wrench into it," Quinn said. "We had to adjust. We were busy with three games a week, but in the last week or so, we got to rest and we were able to do what we were expected to do."

Aoki went 4 for 5 with two doubles and three RBIs, Matoi went 4 for 4 with three runs scored and Joy went 3 for 4 with two runs.