OIA Softball
No. 2 Mililani tops No. 1 Pearl City, 3-1, for 11th OIA title


  



Tue, Apr 25, 2017 @ [ 7:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Mililani 0 300000341
Pearl City 0 0 01000182

W: Misha Carreira    L: Tyanna Kaaialii

PC: Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi 1-3 run dbl; Tyanna Kaaialii 7.0 IP 2 ER 7 K
MIL: Taylor Schmerbauch 2-3 run; Misha Carreira 7.0 IP 1 ER 3 K


KAKAAKO — Misha Carreira wasn't about to let this one slip away. And neither was her defense.

Carreira scattered eight hits in a complete-game and was aided by three inning-ending double plays to lead No. 2 Mililani to a 3-1 win over top-ranked Pearl City in the title game of the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I softball tournament Tuesday night.

A crowd of about 200 at McKinley Tiger Softball Stadium saw the West second-seeded Trojans (12-3) lay claim to their 11th league crown in their fourth consecutive finals appearance.

The Chargers (11-3), who finished first in the West, saw their five-game win streak snapped and fell to 2-5 all-time in OIA title games. They were seeking their first championship since 1979 and third overall.

Mililani did all of its damage in the top of the second, when it sent nine batters to the plate.

After Tracie Okumura reached on a throwing error to lead off the inning, Taylor Schmerbauch singled on a ground ball up the middle to put runners at the corners. Jerae Keliikoa then drew a seven-pitch walk before a fielding error allowed Okumura to score the game's first run.

Two batters later, Maya Yoshiura hit a 2-1 pitch from Pearl City pitcher Tyanna Kaaialii between the first and second basemen and into right field to plate Schmerbauch.

"I was just trying to put the ball hard somewhere on the ground and think oppo," said Yoshiura, a senior second baseman.

Three pitches later, Kaaialii hit Merilis Rivera on the hand with a pitch to bring in another run as Keliikoa scored to make it 3-0. It was Rivera's team-leading 28th RBI of the season, which ranks her second in D1 statewide.

The Chargers kept a fourth run from scoring when second baseman Cheyne Obara came home on a fielder's choice to erase Maya Saneishi for the second out. Kaaialii then got Shannon Pascua-Stanton to line out to shortstop Darian Obara to get out of the inning, which saw the Trojans left the bases loaded.

Pearl City had a promising start to the bottom of the second, but came up empty. Noel Saunders drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the inning, but was thrown out by Trojans' catcher Markie Okamoto while attempting to steal second.

With two outs, Kaaialii and Cheyne Obara got on with back-to-back singles and Bryanna Passi walked to load the bases. However, Carreira escaped unscathed by getting Taylor Shigeta to fly out to right for the third out.

Kaaialii went on to retire the next 11 Trojans in order. She struck out seven, walked three and allowed four hits in the loss.

The Chargers got their lone run in the fourth inning. Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi led off with a double to left-center. Kaaialii singled back up the middle to put runners at the corners. Tiana Akau, who was courtesy runner for Yamaguchi, the catcher, scored on an error. However, Maika Au, the courtesy runner for Kaaialii, was gunned down by Okamoto trying to swipe third for the second out. Shigeta lined out to right for the third out.

"I thought we had a lot of opportunities to answer back," Pearl City coach Chad Obara said. "We ran ourselves out of a few situations, but their defense — I've said it before and everyone knows it, pitching and defense will win you championships and today they were the better team, at least defensively."

The Chargers got consecutive one-out singles by Jaeda McFarland and Darian Obara in the fifth, but Carreira got Saunders to ground into a 4-6-3 double-play to negate the threat.


In the sixth inning, Kaaialii got on with a one-out walk, but the Trojans turned two once again. On the seventh pitch of the at bat, Carreira got Cheyne Obara to ground into a 5-4-3 double-play to once again deny Pearl City.

"They were huge," Yoshiura said. "I think the one in the fifth, that was the biggest one because they had the momentum and they were rallying, so to finish the inning with that double-play was pretty awesome."

One night after logging 11 strikeouts in a semifinal win over Roosevelt, Carreira took a different approach against the Chargers.

"Pearl City, they're a really good hitting team. They're disciplined, they attack at the plate," Carreira said. "Our defense was so good. I know I'm not going to strikeout everybody, that's why I trust my defense. I know my defense can do it."

It was the third meeting between the teams this season. Mililani won the first time, but Pearl City rallied with six runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out an 8-7 win in the last face-off.

Yoshiura said the difference this time was Carreira.

"Misha just stayed mentally strong and she believed in us through everything that she could. I'm really proud of her and the way she bounced back today was just incredible, but we're just not done yet," Yoshiura said. "We still have states next week."

The win — the Trojans' ninth in their last 10 games — also eased the memory of last year's 6-5 loss to Kapolei in the OIA final.

"Last year we just needed three outs, but that didn't happen, so this year it's just so sweet that we got to win," Yoshiura said, one of eight seniors on the squad.

"It's great for this year's seniors to go out after they fell short last year," said Antonio, who has led Mililani to six OIA crowns. "They fell short last year, so to be in this position again and winning it is great for the seniors."

The Trojans will have a first-round bye in next week's DataHouse/HHSAA State Championships at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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