Honokaa junior Tehani Epenesa was brilliant in the softball circle for all seven innings while Hilo sophomore Hauoli Kapili ran into trouble in two frames, and that showcased the dynamic of pitching experience.
Behind Epenesa’s three-hitter, the Dragons, who didn’t hurt themselves, defeated the Vikings 7-0 on Friday at the Walter Victor complex to open the BIIF season.
Epenesa allowed only two walks and struck out 12. Only Kiana Agpalza, Jennie Silva, and Caneel “Booboo” Corpuz had singles, and right after Epenesa quickly stomped out those little brush fires.
“I really couldn’t do it without my team,” Epenesa said. “They had my back, offense and defense wise. My riser was working today. I wanted to keep pushing and have a positive mindset.”
Kapili allowed two unearned runs in the first and five runs, including two unearned in the seventh. She had to pitch around more self-induced trouble, six walks and two hit batters. She stranded 10 on base, including the bases loaded in the fifth.
With the bases loaded in the fifth and two out, Kapili got a groundout to second to erase that threat. When she let her defense work, shortstop Agpalza was solid. She had three putouts.
Through six innings, Kapili had Hilo in the game. The score was 2-0, and she surrendered just two hits. She had a no-hitter through four innings.
The game didn’t start so well for the Vikings, who committed five errors, which contributed to the four unearned runs. Kapili surrendered five hits, six walks, hit two batters and whiffed five.
In the first, Trinity Spencer walked, stole second, went to third on a catcher’s throwing error and scored on Margherita Zervin’s groundout. Epenesa walked, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an infield error.
The seventh turned ugly early. Epenesa led off with a double, Ceelyn Gail-Lucero walked, and Kailana had an RBI groundout. Shaiysha Chung-Haslam followed with an RBI bunt single, and, after a groundout, the next two Dragons reached on errors.
Spencer, the leadoff hitter, then dunked a two-run single into right field for the 7-0 lead.
Epenesa was the only Dragon to pair hits. She went 2 for 3 with a walk.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces, but they’re not necessarily inexperienced,” Honokaa coach Virgil Agustin said. “They’ve gone through the Little League program. Tehani did a good job. We’re young and that’s a good place to start.
“Tehani had a good postseason last year. I expected that from her, but I was surprised she went that long.”
Last year, she fired a three-hitter and struck out 14 in an 11-3 win over McKinley at the Division II state tournament. She went 5 1/3 innings in a 12-6 loss to Waialua in the quarterfinals. She logged a 4-0 win over Kapaa in consolation and went four innings in a 9-4 win over Waimea for fifth place.
Agustin thinks his Dragons still have a lot of room to grow.
“We still need to work on some stuff,” he said.