Maryknoll's Kahilu McNicoll throws a pitch to plate against Mid-Pacific Wednesday afternoon at Sand Island Park. Michael Lasquero | SL

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Michael Lasquero | SL

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SAND ISLAND — Maryknoll refused to be Mid-Pacific's third postseason victim.

Kahilu McNicoll pitched one of her best games of the season and her teammates stepped up on offense and defense to help the Spartans rout the Owls, 10-2, in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu postseason tournament final at Sand Island Recreational Park on Wednesday.

Maryknoll (10-5) clinches one of the league's state tournament berths for the first time since 2015 and plays Kamehameha for the fourth time this season for the overall ILH title and seeded berth on Friday.

"We lost three games in a row and people asked, ‘Where's Maryknoll now?' We knew our talent and where we could go, so I believed it was meant to be," said Maryknoll coach John Uekawa, on clinching a state tournament berth.

"It feels great, my teammates and I have worked hard for this. We never given up on each other and we've always pushed each other. We really deserved this," said McNicoll.

After going winless during the regular season, Mid-Pacific (2-13) hit the reset button and upset Punahou and Iolani to reach the tournament final. With a team that only has three seniors and the rest are underclassmen, there's a foundation to build for upcoming seasons.

"We were able to finish the season strong. It's been a process and journey for our girls. The way were able to finish and come to this tournament to end it we did was a good foundation for what's to come for our program. It's great to see how much we grown, but to come out strong like we did in the end of the season tournament, it shows what kind of character we have," said Mid-Pacific coach Aloha Yamaguchi.

McNicoll pitched a complete-game three-hitter as she struck out seven batters and only walked two in the victory. Momentum was on her side as she struck out two of the three batters in the first inning and when it was Maryknoll's turn at the plate, it posted their seventh game with 10 or more hits of the season.

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"My curves and most of my pitches were on today, if it wasn't for my defense, we wouldn't have gotten where we ended up," said McNicoll.

"She pitched the best game she pitched all year long. They were keying on that (walks). They were taking, but when she was throwing strikes, they would have to swing," said Uekawa, on McNicoll.

Kanoe Tanigawa led off with a single and moved to second on Kamalei Labasan's bunt. Logan Carlos scored Tanigawa and Nohea Hee crunched a two RBI home run to make it, 3-0.

"I've been being more patient with my at bats and waiting for my pitches," said Hee.

"We talked about getting ahead as a team and putting ourselves in a good position to end it. Today we did that well today, we hit base hits when we needed it. We worked and moved each other around the bases and got them to score," said McNicoll.

The Spartans added another run as Baylie Kahele led off with a single and two batters later scored off of Labansan's single to left field.

Sophomore pitcher Lea Hanawahine threw six strikes and walked four in the loss for Mid-Pacific.

Maryknoll created separation in the third inning to put Mid-Pacific in a deeper hole. Hee blasted her second home run of the game and it was contagious as the next three batters followed up with hits: Kaylah Santos doubled, Kiana Arcayena tripled, and Kahele singled that led to a 7-0 cushion.

"We always feel that no lead is good enough unless, so we want to press it," said Uekawa.

The Owls would not go down without a fight as it capitalized on two of Maryknoll's three errors in the inning. Keaolani Takemura reached on Tanigawa's error and Marissa Nishimura reached on a fielder's choice. The Owls scored on an errant throw from Sydney Kamakaiwi and Nishimura managed to score another run prior to Beyli Correa being caught stealing for the team's only runs of the game.

"On our side we had to worry about ourselves. We have to work on that for sure and not taking anything for granted. Every out is going to be precious from this point on," said Uekawa, on the errors.

"Even though they were 0-12, they were bound to upset people because they are good and talented," said Hee.

Arcayena led off the fifth with a single and Kahele walked. Tanigawa followed up with her third hit of the game and Carlos hit her second RBI single to pad the lead for good.