The Hawaii High School Athletic Association (HHSAA) released the brackets for its Division I softball and Division II baseball championships on Wednesday morning.
Both playoffs are double-elimination, and will take place next week on O‘ahu — with softball running Tuesday through Friday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium and baseball Wednesday to Friday at various locations around Honolulu.
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DII BASEBALL
Matchups: KS-Hawai‘i/Radford, Konawaena/Wai‘anae, Molokai/Damien, Kauai/Kahuku
BIIF DII champion Kamehameha Schools – Hawai‘i (13-1) was seeded at No. 3 in the state tourney, and will play Oahu Interscholatic Association (OIA) DII runner-up Radford High (6-7) at 3 p.m. on Wednesday at Radford’s field. In the OIA finals, Radford was routed 11-1 by Wai‘anae High (11-2) — the state tourney’s No. 1 seed.
BIIF DII runner-up Konawaena High is tasked with taking on Wai‘anae in the first round — starting 10 a.m. Wednesday at Pearl City High.
The winner of Kona and Wai‘anae’s matchup will advance to the final-four round to play against No. 4 Moloka‘i High (14-0) or Damien High (4-10).
Moloka‘i is the DII champion of the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL), beating Seabury Hall 2-0 in a finale almost two weeks ago. MHS dominated MIL DII all season — outscoring opponents Seabury, Lanai High and Hana High 134-45 combined. Damien is the only Division II team in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH), and did not play in the ILH’s DI varsity championship.
Finally, Kaui Insterscholastic Federation (KIF) DII champion Kauai High (10-3) will play Kahuku High (10-2) — which placed third in OIA DII. The winner of this matchup will play against KS-Hawai‘i or Radford.
The Red Raiders fell 9-8 to Radford in the OIA semifinals, then crushed Kapolei High 6-1 in the third-place game last week. Kauai beat Kapa‘a High in a best-of-three KIF finale series last week, winning 9-2 and 9-4 after falling 6-2 in the first game.
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DI SOFTBALL
First-round matchups: Waiakea/Leilehua, Kapolei/Wai‘anae, Maryknoll/Campbell, Maui/Kalani
First-round byes: No. 1 Mililani, No. 2 KS-Kapalama, No. 3 Baldwin, No. 4 Kealakehe
BIIF DI runner-up Waiakea High (10-4) will kick off the tourney with a first-round matchup against Leilehua High (12-4) — which won the OIA’s third-place consolation match after falling 7-4 to champion Mililani in the semifinals.
Leilehua had an otherwise dominant season in the OIA, going on two winning streaks of five and six games. The winner between the Warriors and the Mules will advance to take on No. 2 KS-Kapalama (12-5) — the repeat ILH champion, which routed Maryknoll High 17-7 in last week’s ILH finale.
BIIF champion Kealakehe will play Wednesday against the winner of a game between Maryknoll (12-6) and Campbell High (11-4). Campbell placed fourth in the OIA, losing 9-4 to Leilehua.
The winner of Maui vs. Kalani will face Mililani in the quarterfinals, while the winner of Kapolei/Wai‘anae will play No. 3 seed and MIL champion Baldwin High.
