It was a BIIF result that, no doubt, caught some by surprise.
Hawaii Prep 7, Kamehameha 2.
In softball?
“I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one,” Ka Makani coach Travis Bondallian said in a phone interview. “I’m pretty sure Kamehameha was surprised. I’m pretty sure bystanders were surprised, that’s pretty much an upset.”
HPA, however, wasn’t necessarily surprised.
“We were aware we could compete,” Bondallian said. “We played them five times last year in a modified season, and we won one. We knew where we we coming into this year.”
For once, HPA softball may actually be ahead of the game. As BIIF teams hit the reset button after three years away from field, Ka Makani’s made up the experience gap thanks in large part to Gold Coast Softball.
As much was evident Thursday. April Grace took a shutout into the seventh inning and Brooke Samura homered against the eight-time Division II champion Warriors in Waimea in each team’s second game of the season.
It’s not just that HPA has never won a BIIF title. It’s never come close. Ka Makani never even have reached the semifinals.
Bondallian watched the program from afar when his daughters played for Kealakehe.
“HPA was usually an easy win,” he said.
HPA didn’t field a team in 2019, and Bondallian came on board a year later for what turned out to be a two-game season due the pandemic. A longtime coach with Gold Coast, this season Bondallian has eight players who previously played for the Little League program, including Grace.
“She started her softball career playing for me when she was 9 or 10, then we went two different paths and we met up again,” he said.
Bondallian’s confident in his first seven batters in the order: Kailena Akau, Kaila Kaahu, Eliana DeRego, Johnna Lorenzo, Kyana Brucelas, Grace and Samura. And he feels Ka Makani is strong up the middle defensively with Brucelas at catcher, Samura at second, Kaahu at shortstop and Akau in center.
Samura, the reigning BIIF D-I basketball Player of the Year, also doubled Thursday along with hitting her second home run of the season, and Akau was 2 for 2 with two walks. The coach said she’s the team’s leading hitter. Grace allowed three hits and struck out three in keeping Kamehameha off-balance, and DeRego and Samura also are available to pitch.
“It’s a blessing, something that coaches dream of having. A real sound team,” Bondallian said. “The goal is to win BIIFs. I want them to have the confidence in knowing they have a chance to accomplish something HPA never did.”
The seven teams in Division II are playing each other once ahead of the semifinals April 27. Traditionally, Kamehameha, Honokaa, Kohala and Konawaena make up the final four, but Ka Makani already beat the Dragons 18-0, and the Cowgirls are off to an 0-2 start. The Wildcats open their season Monday against Pahoa, which is 2-0.
“I told the girls, be ready to face Kamehameha again,” Bondallian said. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to face them down the line, and they are a tough and disciplined. I’m not taking Pahoa lightly, not with the numbers they are putting up.”
Pahoa 20, Ka’u 4: Kawena Alatini homered, drove in six runs and got the win in the circle Thursday in a combined no-hitter as the Daggers won at home.
Pahoa, which previously beat Kohala 21-6, took advantage of 18 walks in the shortened TKO game. Magdlena Madrid tripled, drove in three runs and scored twice, and Jaylynn Kaawaloa-Alidon had a triple, three runs scored and two RBIs.
Heidi Vidal scored twice for the Trojans (0-2).