There is only one unbeaten team left in BIIF softball, and it’s Waiakea.
There is only one unbeaten team left in BIIF softball, and it’s Waiakea.
Burgeoning freshmen Halee Sweat pitched a four-hitter Monday, and Skylar Thomas and Johnacy Mackwelung homered as the Warriors beat Konawaena 9-4 at their field.
Waiakea finished with 11 hits, four of them for extra bases, against the Wildcats’ Shaylann Grace, who worked six innings.
While Sweat and Mackwelung continue to provide a strong freshman infusion for two-time defending Division I champion Waiakea (9-0), Thomas, a senior, is putting up another season worthy of repeat Player of the Year honors.
The shortstop hit a two-run double in the first inning, and cracked a solo home run in the third. Two batters later, Mackwelung went deep to give the Warriors a 6-1 lead.
The Wildcats (8-1 Division II) crept closer with runs in the fourth and fifth, but the Waiakea scored three more times in the sixth, getting a two-run double from Brandee Chinen and an RBI single from Jourdan Perreira.
Chinen was 3 for 4 with three runs scored and three RBIs, and Thomas, Perreira and Mackwelung each collected two hits.
Sweat allowed just one earned run – Waiakea made four errors – with four walks and four strikeouts.
Grace struck out four and walked two.
Konawaena will be back in East Hawaii on Saturday to face five-time defending D-II champion Kamehameha (4-1).
Honokaa 8, Ka’u 5
Natasha Molina smacked a three-run triple and Alexis Martinez allowed only two earned runs with seven strikeouts in five innings as the Dragons won at home to move into fourth place in Division II.
Tyrah Fernandez started the Dragons’s six-run second with a triple and scored on a passed ball. Three walks and a hit batter helped set up the big inning, which was highlighted by Molina’s three-bagger to left.
Sheri Freitas was the losing pitcher for the Trojans (2-6), working the full six innings, and she was the only player in the game to pick up multiple hits, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs.
Honokaa (3-7) made five errors in back of Martinez, who allowed four runs on four hits and four walks. Destynee Carvalho allowed a run and two hits in two innings, striking out three.