The Chargers celebrate after defeating Campbell in nine innings in the OIA Division I semifinals. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — This one was a game for the ages.

A no-hitter by Tyanna Kaaialii and Noel Saunders' walk-off RBI-double in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted No. 1 Pearl City to a pulsating 1-0 semifinal win over No. 4 Campbell Monday night.

The Chargers (11-2) reserved a spot in Tuesday night's championship game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament with the victory in front of a crowd of about 200 at McKinley Tiger Softball Stadium.

Pearl City, which had lost in the semifinal round the past two seasons, will face fellow Western Division foe Mililani in the 7 p.m. title game.

"It was an emotional game," Chargers coach Chad Obara said. "An emotional, mentally-draining game and both sides played awesome ball. You couldn't ask for more from both sides."

It was the third meeting between the teams this season. Pearl City has won all three games, but each has been just a one-run margin.

"We knew they were going to come in hot and we couldn't let our guard down, so we just had to fight," Saunders said.

Both pitchers — Kaaialii and her counterpart, Campbell's Danielle Cervantes — had no-hitters going into the final inning.

Cervantes, last season's All-Hawaii D1 Player of the Year, faced just four more than the minimum after eight innings. Prior to the ninth, only three Chargers reached scoring position, and only one of them got to third base.

"Dani pitched a hell of a game," Obara said.

However, Cervantes' no-hit bid came to an end in the bottom of the ninth. Jaeda McFarland led off the inning with a single — on an 0-2 count. After Cervantes got Darian Obara to pop out to catcher Jocelyn Alo for the first out, she worked the count to 2-2 to Saunders, who struck out chasing pitches off the plate in her first two plate appearances.

"I got frustrated the first two times I went up to bat, but I had to bounce back for my team and I couldn't let my emotions get the best of me because it would have affected them, too," said Saunders, a junior center fielder.

Saunders lined the fifth pitch of the at bat from Cervantes into the gap in left center. McFarland, with a full head of steam, scored all the way from first on the play. As she rounded third, the throw home from Campbell left fielder Alesia Ranches pulled Alo off the plate and allowed the speedy McFarland to dive in, just ahead of the tag.

"With a terrible jump too," Obara said. "I think she was on the first third of that base path when she should have been on the second third of the base path. I mean, she probably would have been out, but off-line throw and she's fast enough to sneak in there after the off-line throw, so she's impressive."

Saunders said she was eager to clutch-up for her teammates.

"It just looked good and I just swung," Saunders said. "I had to do it for my team."

Obara was thrilled to see Saunders come through. She was 0 for her last 10 going into the seventh inning.

"Extremely happy, especially because that's what we've been talking to them about," Obara said. "When things go bad, how are you going to act? What are you going to do about it. She pouted a little bit, but we talked to her, she recovered real well and we told her we're going to need her later in the game and her spot is going to come up again and it did and she was fortunate enough to cash in."

Kaaialii notched a couple of season-high marks in the win — which matched her longest outing of the year. She struck out 13, but also walked 11.

"She found a way. It wasn't her sharpest, she didn't have all her pitches, but she had enough and she found a way," Obara said.

Kaaialii went at hitters when she had to, and was cautious at other times. Five of her walks were issued to Alo, who took all 20 pitches she saw Monday for balls.

"I wanted to attack them the same way that I've attacked them for the first two games that we faced them," Kaaialii said. "I pitched the pitches that I needed to pitch, I knew my locations and the defense was going to have my back so I just needed to make the plays that I they needed to make so I just had to make sure I made my pitches and hit my spots well."

Campbell left 13 runners on base, six of them in scoring position.

Kaaialii escaped a bases-loaded threat in the top of the seventh by getting clean-up batter Zoie Recolan to strike out looking for the third out.

"It was definitely sketchy," Kaaialii said. "Any pitcher going into that situation definitely has nerves. I'm guilty of it, I had nerves definitely, but being a senior and being as old as I am and having as much experience as I do, I definitely know how to deal with those situations and I kept my composure and made sure that I came through for my team."

It was Kaaialii's second no-hitter this year. She tossed a five-inning no-no in a 10-0 win over Waianae on March 18.

Kaaialii faced 40 batters and reached a three-ball count 19 times Monday. She said she relished the opportunity to go head-to-head against Cervantes.

"I have full respect for Dani. She's an amazing pitcher," Kaaialii said. "She's definitely one of the best pitchers, if not the best pitcher in the state and I respect her a lot. She works hard and I can tell that softball is her life, like it is mine, so I have a lot of respect for her."

Cervantes struck out eight and walked four in the loss.

Pearl City will try for its third league crown in school history and first since 1979.