OIA Softball
Game of the Week Rewind - Waianae vs. Campbell, Apr. 4, 2019


 



Thu, Apr 4, 2019 @ [ 3:00 pm ]


FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Waianae 1 000000182
Campbell 2 1 0002X5100

W: Nadia Delzer    L: Mya Keliiwaiwaiole

CAMP: Alesia Ranches 1-4 run rbi dbl; Nadia Delzer 7.0 IP 1 ER 3 K
WNAE: Xailey Kamealoha 2-4 run trp; Mya Keliiwaiwaiole 6.0 IP 4 ER


Editor's note: As the suspension of all prep sports continues, each week we will take a look back at a game of significance from the same week of past seasons we've covered. Along with a brief summary of the game itself, we'll review the impact it had on the winning team's season and reflect upon some of the then-seniors who played a part in it.

GAME RECAP

The visiting Seariders jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning when Xailey Kamealoha led off the game with a triple and scored on Kailah Gates-Coyaso's squeeze. However, the Sabers answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame on RBI-singles by Caisha Nunes and Jayda Favela, to score Seaerra Fuentes-Arellano and Dyllan Sanay-Shiraishi, respectively. Sanay-Shiraishi drew a bases-loaded walk to plate Hoku Pacheco with two outs in the bottom of the third. Campbell added a couple of insurance runs in the sixth. Alesia Ranches doubled to center to bring Pacheco in and one batter later, Sanay-Shiraishi drove in Ranches with a two-out single. A trio of seniors led the Sabers' 10-hit day: centerfielder Fuentes-Arellano batted 3 for 3 out of the lead-off spot, catcher and No. 3 batter Sanay-Shiraishi went 2 for 3 with a walk and rightfielder Pacheco also paired hits out of the nine-hole. Meanwhile, Nadia Delzer logged a complete game in the pitching circle. The senior right-hander scattered eight hits, struck out three batters and walked none.

THE IMPACT

The win pushed the Sabers to 9-0 on the season. They went on to lock up the top seed out of the Western Division in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I tournament with a 10-0 mercy-rule victory over Pearl City the very next day. Campbell went on to complete an undefeated league season, capped by their second consecutive and seventh overall OIA title. It drew the top seed in the state tournament, but was relegated to the consolation bracket with an 11-2 loss to Baldwin in the quarterfinal round. The Sabers finished with a 16-1-1 overall record on the year. They were well-represented in the OIA D1 West all-star selections, headlined by Ranches, who earned Player of the Year distinction. Sanay-Shiraishi, Favela, Nunes, Fuentes-Arellano and Delzer also earned First Team recognition, while Fonoti and Sanoe Samante picked up Second Team honors. Coach Michael "Shag" Hermosura was tabbed as Coach of the Year. Delzer was selected as All-Hawaii Division I Pitcher of the Year. She went 9-1 with a 3.85 ERA on the year after not logging a single inning in the pitching circle in her first two varsity seasons. Favela and Fuentes-Arellano joined her on the All-Hawaii First Team. Campbell finished the year in the No. 6 spot in the final ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Power Rankings.

HE SAID IT

"Going into the game, everyone knew that playing Waianae was going to be tough. They had a great season the year before and they had plenty of returnees, so we knew we had to work hard for the win. Delzer got her ground balls and she had those three strikeouts, but they hit her so you've got to give credit to them for hitting the ball off of her. They're a great hitting team, we just capitalized on the mistakes that they made and we had some hits here and there and we just manufactured one run at a time, but coach Aina (Robert Kalaola) and his staff do great things over there. I knew that going into it, it was going to be a tough game, really tough, but we came out with the win and we just kept on working from there. Everybody wants to go unbeaten, you try, but then you gotta go back to the drawing board at times and figure out what the mistakes were, what we needed to work on to continue our winning streak. Every practice we want to get better, every game we want to do better than the game before, that's our philosophy, so we just kept working hard, coaches and players especially, but at times we had to step back and regroup to make sure we were focusing on what really needed to be done. The players worked hard to get there and everybody contributed and did what had to be done. The role players and the guys who were starting came out and worked hard, other than that it was basically putting in the hard work. We had one game where we came out flat at states, I don't know if it was a mental thing or a physical thing, but we just never came out and played that day. We got our butt kicked and the other team was better than us that day, so we just gotta accept the fact that anybody can win or any given day. That Waianae game, going into it we all knew it was going to be tough and we had to scratch, pull and do everything we can just to get that W." -Shag Hermosura

Hermosura reflected upon some of the seniors on that team.

Nadia Delzer: "She relied on hitting her spots. She didn't throw as fast as pitchers I've had before, but that (Waianae) game, I personally feel, made her work harder as well as the rest of the team. She's the type of person who always wanted the ball and always wanted to do her part. She really worked hard and everybody could see it and at some point we just decided that we're going with her and we always could pull her out if things didn't go right, but she's a fighter. She wanted to learn how to pitch so I worked with her for two seasons (as a sophomore and junior) and then senior year she earned the right to get the ball first."

Alesia Ranches: "She played her role throughout her sophomore and junior years and then became a starter on the infield (as a senior). We always knew she had a good arm and a good sense of where the ball was going when she was playing outfield at the time."

Caisha Nunes: "She was our shortstop before, then became our third baseman, but she accepted that role and I think she did a hell of a job playing the third base position."

Seaerra Fuentes-Arellano: "She was just like the quarterback out in the outfield. She worked on her speed and her base stealing, as well as Ranches and Jayda Favela."

Dyllan Sanay-Shiraishi: "She was a great leader. She would take command of everything and she was one that could see the whole field as a catcher. She knew how to catch the pitches I would call and I didn't really need to work with her, she just had that instinct of how to control the game — because the game and the tempo of the game is controlled by the catcher — and she was just a great leader."

MOVING FORWARD

"Of course, there were other players out there, but those that I mentioned gave us some of the better leadership that I've had and they were looked to by our underclassmen to lead the way, players like Jaelyn Meyers; she was a role player before and now she's starting in centerfield — she's like a (Fuentes-Arellano) — Chloe Poniatowski was a catcher, now she plays outfield, they both accepted the role they're playing now and they work hard at it, especially Poniatowski. I mentioned those two because they want to make an impact on the team for the younger ones, like any senior, but they set a good example. I tell them that as a coaching staff we don't care if you're a starter, role player, newcomer, it's all about how hard you're going to work out here and show us that you deserve to start and those two have put on great leadership for the team. Poniatowski, she struggled and sometimes lacked confidence when she fails and had a hard time picking herself up, but she works hard. We lost against Kapolei (to open the 2020 regular season), but she had a home run in that game and I was so happy that after all that hard work that one hit gave her all that confidence, (but) right after that, next thing you know, COVID-19 hits and everything stopped. They been keeping in contact with me, I tell them to stay healthy, throw ball, if you can, hit into the net, run of your own, but until the government says they can go back to school and we can finish up the season, that's how it's going to be right now."



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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