Tristan Florentin sprints to first after making a hit against Maryknoll. Florenstin was 3-of-4 at the plate and batted in a double and RBI. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Joshua Muneno makes contact with a pitch against Damien. Muneno was 2-of-4 batting in 1 RBI and 2 triples. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kaeo Castaneda pitched for all 7 innings allowing 7 hits and 7 runs while striking out 8 against Maryknoll. Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAIPIO — After two years of frustration, Mike Wong finally got the monkey off his back Tuesday afternoon.

Damien broke out the bats and Kaeo Castaneda struck out eight while going the distance on the mound to lead the Monarchs to a 12-7 win over Maryknoll in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division II game at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park.

It was Damien's first win over Maryknoll in Wong's two seasons as head coach. The Spartans, who are the reigning D2 state champions, swept the Monarchs last season and had won the first three times the teams faced off this year.

"Finally," Wong said, breathing a sigh of relief after the final out was recorded. "They've had our number the past two years and they've been the class of our league, so it's nice to get this win."

Damien (5-5) had dropped four of its last five games entering the showdown, including a 7-5 loss to Maryknoll (9-2) just three days prior.

"It feels really good to pull off the win against Maryknoll and finally get a win off of them after the past two years," said Castaneda, who threw an astronimal 160 pitches — 90 for strikes. "This is going to help bounce us back from the first half and hopefully in the second half we come out much stronger now."

The duo of Trevor Caspillo and Tristan Florentin went a combined 7 for 9 and scored seven runs at the top of the Monarchs' lineup and Leeland Lauti and Kody Tamashiro drove in three runs apiece. Lauti also scored twice, as did Dylan Flores.

"Those two guys did their job, which is to get on base and we were fortunate enough to be able to bring them in," Wong said of Caspillo and Florentin. "Trevor went 4 for 5 and had a huge game and Tristan got on base a bunch of times to help set the table for guys like Leeland and Kody."

Lauti got the scoring started in the top of the first when he singled down the third base line, allowing Caspillo to score from second. Florentin later scored on a fielder's choice and Lauti came around on sacrifice fly by Tamashiro to give Damien a 3-0 lead.

Maryknoll came back to score a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning on a single by Michael Nishiki and a triple by Joshua Muneno — his first of two three-baggers in the game.

Florentin extended the Monarchs' lead with a two-run double that scored Chase Higashi and Caspillo and was later brought home on a sac fly by Lauti to make the score 6-2 after the top of the second.

"We made some adjustments at the plate since the last time we played them," said Florentin, the Damien shortstop. "We came up swinging. We knew that we had to get on the first-pitch strikes and we just clutched-up."

The Spartans chipped away at the lead by scoring one run in both the second and third innings to pull within 6-4, but the Monarchs answered with three more runs in the top of the fourth. Caspillo and Florentin led off the inning with back-to-back singles. A throwing error allowed Caspillo to score and Florentin scored Damien's eighth run on another sac fly by Lauti, which chased Maryknoll starter Chase Uyema from the game. He allowed eight runs on nine hits and was the losing pitcher.

"I think having the whole lineup contributing hitting-wise to this win will give us more confidence," Florentin said.

Damien added three insurance runs in the top of the sixth before Maryknoll closed out the scoring with a pair of seventh-inning runs.

"I was getting more comfortable as the game was going along," Castaneda said. "I just felt like all my pitches were right there, had confidence and just threw it."

Muneno batted 2 for 4 and Phillip Aylward drove in two runs for the Spartans, who used three pitchers and saw their six-game win streak snapped.

The teams are scheduled to play one more time, in the regular-season finale on Apr. 19 at Les Murakami Stadium. Both teams are back in action Thursday. Damien takes on Pac-Five West (3-8) at CORP, while Maryknoll faces off against Saint Francis (5-7) at Goeas Field. First pitch for both games are set for 3:45 p.m.