Pearl City freshman Tiari Hernandez (23) blasted a two-run home run to spark a five-run sixth inning for the Chargers. Spencer Honda | SL

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Mililani's Elizabeth Winchester doubled to bring in a run in the top of the sixth inning to extend the Trojan's lead back to three runs. But Pearl City followed by plating five runs in the bottom frame. Spencer Honda | SL

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PEARL CITY — Fifth-ranked Pearl City erupted for five runs in the sixth inning and held off sixth-ranked Mililani in the seventh to win, 7-6, in an Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I West contest at the Chargers' field on Tuesday.

"The character we showed, it was something we brought up a week ago. It was nice to see them respond the way they responded and recover because things were looking bleak," said Pearl City coach Chad Obara.

The Chargers' win creates a three-way tie for second place in the OIA D1 West standings as they share identical records with Kapolei and Leilehua at 4-2.

Trojans drop their second game in a row to fall to 2-4.

Freshman Tiari Hernandez led the charge for Pearl City with a two-RBI home run, Noel "Tita" Saunders went 2 for 4 and drove in two runs and Alexas Presto-Ahsing was 2 for 3 at the plate.

Hailey-Alexis Yamaguchi's lead-off dribbler in the bottom of the sixth somehow stayed inbounds as everyone watched it toe the left foul line.

"I am a firm believer there are softball gods out there. Sometimes things go our way, sometimes they don't. When they go our way, we're happy it goes our way. It was a great piece of fortune right there," said coach Obara, on the hit.

Hernandez followed up by crushing a home run over the fence to spark the Chargers as the momentum swung toward the home team. Literally.

"That would be a swing in the momentum. When she took that ball out, that changed the whole vibe of the game and put it in our favor and fortunately it continued," coach Obara said of the home run.

"I felt confident in myself and knew that I had it. It was down the middle. Coach told me to take one but I felt confident," said Hernandez, on her first home run of the season.

Presto-Ahsing doubled and Maiyah Faleafine-Lesu walked, then moved over a base on Taryn Fujioka's sacrifice bunt. Jewel Larson added an RBI single on her only at-bat and Cheyne Obara's squeeze bunt brought in Drew Hashimoto. Saunders singled between second and third as Pearl City added a pair of runs to lead, 7-5.

Mililani made a pitching change to replace Cheyenne Ardona with Serenity Jackson. Ardona had three strikeouts and walked four in the loss.

Faleafine-Lesu got Jordan Okumura to pop out to second to lead off, but Mililani wouldn't go away quietly as Tracie Okumura and Kayla Bello singled. Cheyne Obara raced into foul territory to nab the second out. However, Kobe Brown reached on an error by Cheyne Obara that would had been the third out, which also allowed Tracie Okumura to score, but Kamryn Sasaki lined out to third to end the game.

"We were confident in our pitcher and that we had each others' back," said Hernandez.

Mililani's Elizabeth Winchester doubled to bring in a run in the top of the sixth inning to extend the Trojan's lead back to three runs. But Pearl City followed by plating five runs in the bottom frame. Spencer Honda | SL    Purchase image

Things didn't look good for the Chargers early on as Kamie Matsukawa led off with a single in the top of the third inning and Jordan Okumura walked. Tracie Okumura singled to left field and Matsukawa scored off of Bello's sacrifice fly to right. Carlos ripped a home run over the left-center fence for a 4-0 lead. Coach Obara pulled Jozayah Iriarte and went with Faleafine-Lesu, who finished the rest the game only giving up a hit.

"They stuck with it and things turned around," said coach Obara.

In the bottom frame of the inning, Taylor Au and Cheyne Obara were consecutively walked and advanced on wild pitches. Saunders drove in Pearl City's first run despited grounding out to short.

The Chargers stuffed the Trojans in the fifth inning, and Cheyne Obara added another run off Saunders' single that dropped into left field to trail, 4-2. To the Chargers' credit, the team stayed the course.

"These bunch of girls don't quit and they keep playing and keep putting their efforts out there. The thing I liked about the effort was that they weren't worried about the results, it was about the effort and execution," said coach Obara.

Tracie Okumura went 2 for 3 and scored two runs while Sasaki was 2 for 4.

Mililani looks to rebound against second-ranked Kapolei (4-2) on Saturday, March 24. Pearl City's next game will be against fourth-ranked Leilehua (4-2) on March 31 after Nanakuli forfeited the rest of their season.

The Trojans and Chargers will face off again on Apr. 14 to close out the regular season.