Merilis Rivera sprints home from second base on Pascua-Stanton's single to centerfield. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Rivera is met by teammates at home after slamming her fifth home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA — Merilis Rivera batted 3 for 4 with two RBI and finished a triple shy of the cycle as No. 1 Mililani escaped with a 7-6 win over unseeded Maui in the quarterfinals of the DataHouse/HHSAA Division I Softball State Championships Thursday night.

The top-seeded Trojans (13-3) came back from an early one-run deficit, then held off a frantic seventh-inning rally by the Sabers (11-6) to secure a spot in Friday's semifinals, where they will face fifth-ranked Kamehameha.

Eight different players recorded a hit for Mililani, which rapped out 13 as a team. Rivera, a senior third baseman, singled in the first inning, doubled in a run in the third and blasted a solo homer to lead off the fourth.

"We just kept swinging the bat and we were aggressive, which was great to see," Trojans coach Rose Antonio said.

Mililani's bats got to Maui sophomore ace Cira Bartolotti early and often.

After her team spotted her a run in the top of the first — when Nawai Kaupe scored on Erin Prieto's RBI sacrifice fly — Bartolotti surrendered the lead in the bottom of the frame.

The Trojans answered with two runs on three hits to take the lead for good. Tarah Aniya led off with a triple and scored on an RBI-ground out by Maya Yoshiura. Three batters later, Shannon Pascua-Stanton's triple to right field plated Rivera from second.

"That was actually very huge for us to get those runs back right away and bounce back," Antonio said.

Rivera is met by teammates at home after slamming her fifth home run of the season to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning. Greg Yamamoto | SL    Purchase image

The Trojans' 2-1 lead held until the bottom of the third, when they sent 10 batters to the plate and scored four runs on six hits.

Rivera's double brought across Yoshiura, who reached on a double, for the first run of the inning. Rivera came around to score on a one-out single up the middle by Pascua-Stanton, who eventually scored on a Jerae Keliikoa single. Maya Saneishi looped a double into left one pitch later that brought Taylor Schmerbauch in to score to stretch the lead to 6-1.

Rivera made it 7-1 with her long ball in the bottom of the fourth, but Destiny Kama-Cornelio returned the favor with a solo shot in the top of the fifth. Maui scratched across another run in the sixth on a Kaimi Lay-Fuentes RBI-double to score Kaupe and cut the deficit to 7-3.

The Sabers kept pulling away in the seventh. The first four batters reached base safely — three of them on walks — including a bases-loaded free pass to Kaupe that scored Hailey Gomes. Bartolotti then drove in Kylenna Rieta with a sacrifice fly to center. The very next batter, Malia Paet, hit an 0-2 pitch from Mililani pitcher Misha Carreira back up the middle to score Nicole Nakanishi from second.

That brought the Sabers within a run of the Trojans at 7-6, but Carreira got Prieto to ground out to first for the second out and Lay-Fuentes to fly out to left to end the game.

"Hats off to Maui," said Rivera, who scored three runs. "They're a great team and they fought hard and they gave me a little fear at the last minute, but we pulled through and that's what we needed for our team."

Carreira scattered four hits and overcame seven walks to get the win. She struck out seven in the complete-game effort.

"Misha is a great pitcher and she knows how to pull her own weight and she pulls through when we need it the most," Rivera said. "She's such an amazing person and an amazing pitcher. She really pulls through for us and we're lucky to have her."

Bartolotti was tagged for 13 hits and walked three batters in the loss. She struck out three, but all seven of the runs charged to her were earned.

"Our girls played awesome against the No. 1 team. We just came up a little bit short, but the bats came alive at the end and that was awesome to see," Maui coach Mark Lau Hee said. "We have a lot of awesome kids, awesome coaches and they put in a lot of work. This was just great for our program, and we had a good run. You cannot take anything away from the kids. Mililani is always going to bring it no matter what."

Maui, which finished second in the Maui Interscholastic League, was making its second straight state-tournament appearance. It defeated seventh-ranked Leilehua, 6-5 in eight innings, in Wednesday's first round.

The Sabers will face fourth-seeded Waiakea in a fifth-place semifinal at Noon Friday at McKinley.

Mililani, the Oahu Interscholastic Association champion, had a first-round bye Wednesday. It will be making its fourth consecutive state semifinals appearance.

First pitch between the Trojans and Warriors Friday is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. It will follow the early semifinal between No. 3 Campbell and No. 2 Pearl City at 4:30 p.m.