Wesley Fujimoto thought the late offensive surge could have happened much sooner on Thursday.
Wesley Fujimoto thought the late offensive surge could have happened much sooner on Thursday.
After Honokaa’s softball team attempt to erase a nine-run deficit ended in a 10-6 loss at Kealakehe, the Dragons coach told his players they watched too many hitable strikes go by in the first five innings and asked for more aggressiveness at the plate early in games.
Apparently, Fujimoto’s message came across loud and clear.
Honokaa collected five hits and seven runs in the first inning at Konawaena before tacking on nine more runs in the sixth as the Dragons defeated Konawaena 16-3 Saturday in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation game.
The contest ended after six innings because of the league’s mercy rule.
Honokaa’s seven-run inning included a run-scoring double by sophomore shortstop Hailey Paglinawan and sophomore Shereena Bird’s booming RBI triple to right-center.
“(Fujimoto told us) we had to rally more in the beginning than in the middle of the game,” Paglinawan said.
Senior Kawehi Bell-Kaaekuahiwi and sophomore Allie Shiraki added run-scoring singles in the first.
Bell-Kaaekuahiwi, who finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs, said Honokaa (5-4) spent much of its time at practice Friday working on its hitting.
Bird went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, while Shiraki and freshman Kayla Requelman were 2-for-4.
“Hard practices pay off,” said Bell-Kaaekuahiwi, who highlighted the Dragons’ nine-run sixth with a two-run single.
Honokaa’s early outburst gave pitcher Kayla Kalauli all the run support she needed.
The sophomore went the distance, allowing just one earned run on seven hits. She struck out three and struck out three.
Konawaena (3-6) got within 7-3 in the fourth inning when Amanda Varron’s RBI single plated Pualani Ubando. The Wildcats would have crept closer if not for Shiraki’s two stellar plays in center field.
With runners on second and third in the third inning, Konawaena’s Saxon Nagata plated Bethany Batangan with an RBI single to center. The Wildcats’ Alexis Fujikawa tried to score from the second on the play, but Shiraki gunned her down at home plate.
In the fifth inning, Shiraki recorded Konawaena’s third out with an over-the-shoulder catch on a fly ball by Ubando, keeping two more Wildcat runners from scoring.
“She’s the key right there defensively,” Fujimoto said of Shiraki. “She runs down everything.”
Wildcats freshman Bethany Batangan, who took the loss, recovered from a rough first inning, giving up just one hit and no runs in the next four innings before running into trouble in the sixth.
In 5 1/3 innings, Batangan allowed 13 runs — 11 earned — on eight hits, striking out four and walking five.
Fujikawa, who went 2-for-3 with an RBI at the plate, recorded the final two Honokaa outs.
“It was two bad innings that cost us the game,” Konawaena coach Shellie Grace said.
Honokaa 700 009 — 16 10 4
Konawaena 101 100 — 3 7 4
c Kealakehe 14, Hawaii Prep 1: Senior Summer McEntee pitched a one-hit shutout in Waimea as Kealakehe improved to 6-3.
McEntee walked two batters and struck out five in a game that ended after five innings because of the league’s mercy rule.
HPA sophomore Kawena Lim-Samura denied McEntee a no-hitter with a one-out single in the fourth.
Ashley Isisaki led the Waveriders at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBIs. Her two-run double in the third sparked a five-run third inning and her two-run double in the fifth highlighted a seven-run fifth inning.
McEntee went 2-for-3 as Kealakehe took advantage of 12 walks and five hit batsmen by HPA pitchers.
Lim-Samura took the loss for Ka Makani (3-6).
Kealakehe 105 17 — 14 5 1
Hawaii Prep 100 00 — 1 1 2