It turned into a golden Saturday for the pair of Gold Coast softball squads on the mainland for Little League tournaments.
In San Bernardino, California, the Gold Coast Majors (ages 9-12) started their Western Regional with a tight 6-5 victory over Utah, the defending champions at the tournament.
The Hawaii squad got things started in the first inning when Sunny Akau ripped an RBI single, scoring Kamalani Doctor. Hawaii pulled away for good with five runs in the third inning. Doctor had the first RBI of the rally, recording a single on a 1-0 count. Akau followed that up with another single, scoring two runs, and Gold Coast tacked on two more tallies on Utah errors.
Akau was 2-of-3 at the plate, knocking in three runs in all. She also picked up the win in the circle, allowing six hits, striking out three and not issuing a walk.
Gold Coast will look to move to 2-0 on Sunday against Northern California in a game at 9 a.m. HST that will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Further north on the mainland, the Gold Coast Seniors (ages 13-16) were using their knockout power in Missoula, Montana at the Western Regional, collecting a pair of TKO wins, outscoring its two opponents by a combined score of 46-5.
The seniors started the day with a 26-2 clobbering of Oregon behind a 5-of-5 day at the dish from Nanea Kaluau. She drove in three runs and notched a highlight triple in the second inning.
Every player on the team recorded an RBI, led by Leiloa-Valerie Bustamante, who had four.
Erin Kaimuloa Bates led things off in the circle for Gold Coast.
She allowed just two hits, striking out one and walking one with no earned runs. Pililai Kaai pitched the final two innings of the shortened game, striking out two and allowing one earned run.
Hawaii amassed 26 hits and stole 13 bases during the game, with four players stealing more than one and Dioni Lincoln leading the way with four.
Arizona provided a little more resistance against the Gold Coast girls, but not by much, with the Hawaii squad reeling off a 20-3 victory and improving their record in the tourney to 3-1.
Tehani Epenesa got the win for Gold Coast. She lasted five innings, allowing three hits and two runs while striking out five and walking none.
Gold Coast racked up 19 hits in the contest, with Nanea Kalua’u, Leiloa-Valerie Bustamante, Lisan Mudong, Dioni Lincoln, Epenesa, and Kierra Molina each providing multiple hits.
Next on the docket for the seniors are games against Southern California and Northern California today. Both Cali squads are 2-2 so far in the tournament.
