Punahou's Jaci Young throws a pitch to the plate against Baldwin. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Amber Popovich connects with a pitch for base hit to left field. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Paige Kawai rounds third base against Baldwin. Evan Asato | SL

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Baldwin's Skylynne Ellazar reaches back over her head to catch a pop fly. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Nicole Nishizawa pitched two and a half innings for the Buffanblu. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou's Paige Kawai slides into home safely to score the Buffanblu's second run. Evan Asato | SL

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Baldwin's Skylynne Ellazar makes a catch in the outfield against Punahou. Evan Asato | SL

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Punahou advanced to the DataHouse Division I State Tournament quarterfinals after staving off a Baldwin comeback in the bottom of the seventh inning to win, 7-4.

Jaci Young, who pitched the first five innings before being relieved by Nicole Nishizawa and then came back in the bottom of the seventh inning to close it out, credits her catcher and her defense.

"It wasn't my best pitching performance, but my defense helped me out and Kylie (Popovich) called a good game," said Jaci Young.

In the top of the first inning, Punahou leadoff hitter Thalen Masada stole 2nd and 3rd base and eventually got Buffanblu on the scoreboard after an errant throw to the catcher. Masada amassed 4 stolen bases in 3 innings.

In the top of the fourth, Punahou scored 2 runs as courtesy runner Paige Kawai and Arianna Hashimoto came in off of a wild pitch.

Hashimoto led the way with a 3RBI double to deep center field as Punahou added 4 more runs in the top of the fifth inning to give them a comfortable 7-0 lead.  

In the bottom of the fifth, the Bears got on the scoreboard after an RBI single to center field from Skylynne Ellazar that brought in Gabriella Morton. Punahou's Nicole Nishizawa came in to relieve starting pitcher Jaci Young since the Buffablu were up, 7-1. Ellazar scored after Kylie Rose Dickson hit an RBI double to centerfield.  

"We have been talking as a coaching staff about trying to get Nicole some innings in this tournament and we have to go four games and it's asking one pitcher to do a lot. If we had only played today, it would have been different but we needed to see if we could save Jaci for the next two games. We had a 7-1 lead and we were feeling pretty comfortable and it was a good opportunity to let Nicole throw because next year she will be our number one pitcher and gave her a chance to feel the adrenaline," said Punahou coach Bob Makahilahila.

In the bottom of sixth, Shyli Puahala-Lau got on base after hitting a single past second base. On the next at-bat, Haunani Morton bunted, made it safely to first after an error and Puahala-Lau scored, making it 7-3.

In the bottom of seventh, Baldwin kept themselves in the game as Gabriella Morton, Ellazar and Alysha Sakamura loaded the bases with singles. Lilyan Bermudez was hit by a pitch that walked in Morton, making it 7-4. Jaci Young reentered the game and the Punahou defense held on as they used a double-play to end the game as catcher Kylie Popovich threw it to Heaven Wong to tag out Ellazar for the final out.

"We had made the decision if they put a couple runners on, that we would let Jaci close it down. Luckily she gets the batter to swing at a low ball, strikes out with bases loaded and we noticed the runners at third were being aggressive and we told KP (Kylie Popovich) and if the runner comes down too far to go after her. Fortunately for us and for her, she is such a smart player so she saw it, threw it and we got the third out at the same time," said Coach Makahilahila.

Punahou will face Campbell a 7-1 winner over Mililani, in a rematch of last year's tournament quarters. The Sabers won that meeting, 4-2.