Kamehameha had never taken the field as the top seed at the HHSAA Division II softball tournament, but the Warriors looked fit for the billing right out of the gate.
The six-time BIIF champion needed only one hit to score six times in the first inning Thursday in the quarterfinals, and Kamehameha went on to whip Waipahu 13-3 in a TKO at McKinley High School on Oahu.
Brooke Baptiste worked all six innings and homered for the Warriors (17-5), who will happily switch venues Friday and take on ILH champion Saint Francis in the semifinals at 2:15 p.m. Friday at Rainbow Wahine High School as they try to advance to the championship game for the first time.
“We were pleasantly surprised to be the top seed,” Kamehameha coach Akea Kiyuna said.
And once they hit the field at states?
“A few jitters, but then they began to feel really comfortable out there and play with confidence,” she said.
A six-run first will do wonders.
Leiloa Bustamante hit an RBI double, but otherwise Kamehameha relied in miscues by the Marauders (6-9). The OIA’s third-place team helped matters out with two errors, two hit batters, two wild pitches, an illegal pitch and three walks.
Baptiste, meanwhile, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. She was charged with two earned runs on four hits. Yielding two runs in the top of the first inning proved to be only a hiccup.
“She was able to settle in,” Kiyuna said.
The Warriors started hitting their way on in the second as Jessica Cameros collected an RBI double ahead of Baptiste’s two-run home run.
Xandra-Li Helenihi and Taylor Sullivan each finished with two hits apiece.
Unseeded Saint Francis (9-5) beat No. 4 Molokai 11-1 in the quarterfinals. The Saints downed Kamehameha in in the 2016 third-place game on Maui.
Aiea 7, Kohala 3
Setsuko Kimura homered, but the Cowgirls (13-7) lost in the quarterfinals for the third time in the past five seasons.
The BIIF’s third-place team was held to three hits and will take on Radford at 6 p.m. Friday in consolation play back at McKinley.
Jurnee Keawe took the loss for Kohala.
Konawaena 8, Lanai 3
Shaylynn Grace hit a two-run homer at the plate and struck out 10 in the circle as the BIIF runner-up Wildcats (17-6) advanced to Saturday’s seventh-place game.
Each team finished with only four hits, but Konawaena coaxed 12 walks from two Pine Lasses pitchers. Lanai finished the season 5-5.
Grace homered in the first, scoring Rachel Sato, who walked, and Teizha Kaluna was 2 for 3 for the Wildcats, hitting a two-run single in the fourth.
Grace, a freshman, was only charged with one earned run in a six-inning complete game, walking two.
Honokaa and Kalani play Friday for the other spot in the seventh-place game.
Division I
Reese Mokuau struck out 12 in a three-hitter and Maiah Motta hit a home run and finished 3 for 3 as Kamehameha-Kapalama handed Waiakea its first loss in a 9-3 victory at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
Waiakea (17-1) was outhit 16-3 and committed five errors as the BIIF’s struggles continued at states. The league champion hasn’t won in the quarterfinals since 2008, and a BIIF team hasn’t posted a victory since Waiakea finished fifth in 2009.
Senior shortstop Skylar Thomas hit a three-run triple for Waiakea in the third and walked in her other two plate appearances. Halee Sweat and Brandee Chinen had Waiakea’s other hits.
Mokuau, a freshman, walked three for ILH runner-up Kapalama (12-3-1), and Tausani Tavale and Dallas Millwood joined Motta with three-hit games. Shaylee Alani, a junior shortstop from Kailua-Kona who has played on Big Island teams during past summers, was 1 for 3.
Sweat, a freshman, pitched six innings and struck out three for Waiakea, which will play Maui in a consolation game at noon Friday at McKinley High.
