Leilehua catcher Staisa Micky, pitcher Kaena Nistal and third base Reilyenne Nahulu meet in the circle for a meeting against Pearl City. John Lujan | SL

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The Leilehua softball team couldn't help but get a little emotional over this one.

Tears of joy streamed down the cheeks of many of the Mules following their come-from-behind 4-3 win over then-No. 2 Pearl City at Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park Saturday night.

The victory was most certainly a hard-earned one with four lead changes in the game. Leilehua saw its ace pitcher, Kaena Nistal, have to exit the contest in the top of the sixth with an apparent knee injury — on the very same play that the Chargers took a 3-2 lead.

Not to worry.

In a scene out of "The Natural," Gwen Maeha turned the tide with one swing of her bat in the bottom of the inning. The junior came off the bench to pinch hit and belted the third pitch of the at bat well over the fence in left centerfield for a two-run home run that gave her team the lead for good.

Most players — especially those who sat on the bench for the first five-plus innings of the game — might feel some pressure in the late-game situation Maeha found herself in, but not her.

"I wasn't nervous," said a calm, mild-mannered Maeha, who was highly sought after by members of the media after the final out Saturday.

Maeha, if the name sounds familiar, is the reigning two-time girls' bowling individual state champion — so pressure is nothing new.

"It's just all the practice, all the talks that the coaches give us at practice and just trying to always stay focused and be calm in the box and just making sure that you don't get excited," Maeha said.

Another reserve, sophomore pitcher Alyssa Abe, also delivered admirably when her number was called Saturday.

After Nistal's knee injury, it was Abe — who had logged just two innings in one previous appearance this season — that Mules' coach Stacy Araki turned to.

"It was the biggest spot that she's come in this season," Araki said.

Abe got the final four outs to get her first win of the season. She stranded the tying run at third and the potential go-ahead run at second to end the game.

"One of our coaches, Trent (Kubo), said to the girls that ‘This is our team and we can beat (Pearl City), we can beat anybody in the West. This West is the toughest, but you girls have to believe in yourself and you have to earn everybody's respect because nobody respects us right now,' " Araki said. "We try to keep the girls positive and keep their confidence up and I think it's helping. It's really helping."

The win was Leilehua's fifth in its last six games. The Mules (6-3) climbed yet another spot — to No. 3 — in this week's ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings.

Defensive miscues had hurt Araki's team in previous losses, but it overcame four errors Saturday to hand the Chargers just their second loss on the year.

"The first thing I said when we were talking to the girls (after the game) is that we made errors, but we made those timely hits this time," Araki said. "We made the timely hits. We went to our bench with Gwen and she came up with a big hit for us, which we were thinking she was going to come up and do it."

Maeha finally showed some emotion when asked how it felt to be able to contribute to the win Saturday.

"It felt good, especially because when our pitcher, Kaena, got hurt, I knew we had to clutch it up," Maeha said. "I just hit it and I was like, ‘that was for her.' "