While an early season injury has limited senior pitcher Alexis Fujikawa in the circle, freshman Bethany Batangan has given Konawaena’s softball team a shot in the arm. While an early season injury has limited senior pitcher Alexis Fujikawa in the
While an early season injury has limited senior pitcher Alexis Fujikawa in the circle, freshman Bethany Batangan has given Konawaena’s softball team a shot in the arm.
Batangan allowed just three runs in six innings, and Saxon Nagata highlighted a five-run fifth inning with a two-run homer Friday at Kealakehe as the Wildcats beat the Waveriders 7-3 in a Big Island Interscholastic Federation contest.
“She definitely looks like she’s getting stronger throughout the season,’’ Konawaena coach Shellie Grace said of Batangan.
Batangan has assumed most of the starting pitching duties for Konawaena (3-3) after Fujikawa sustained an ankle injury before the start of the season.
Against the Waveriders (4-3), Batangan allowed seven hits and four walks while striking out one. Fujikawa then pitched the seventh inning, walking both Kaleanani Anakalea-Haleamau and Nicole Rivera before allowing a Summer McEntee hit that loaded the bases with nobody out. The senior recovered by promptly striking out the side.
Offensively, Fujikawa tied the game at two in fifth inning with an RBI single, setting up Nagata’s two-run homer.
Nagata also tripled in the contest, finishing 2-for-4 with two RBIs.
Junior Ashley Isisaki took the loss for Kealakehe. In five innings, she gave up six runs on four hits, striking out six and walking four.
At the plate, Isisaki gave the Waveriders a 2-1 lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the first.
Konawaena 100 050 1 — 7 6 2
Kealakehe 200 001 x — 3 8 4
c Kohala 10, Hawaii Prep 7: A catcher’s interference call with two outs in the fourth inning paved the way for a six-run inning, helping the Cowgirls beat Ka Makani in Waimea.
HPA (2-5) had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when junior Camille Kiyota doubled and scored on an RBI single by senior catcher Stacie Doi.
But with a runner on base and two outs in the top of the fourth, Kohala leadoff batter Jordelle Antonio hit a grounder to first base that would have ended the inning.
However, the home plate umpire ruled Doi interfered with Antonio’s swing, extending the inning as the next seven Kohala batters reached base. The Cowgirls (4-2) scored three of their runs on an infield error that cleared the bases.
Senior Chyler Imai earned the victory by going the distance in the circle. She allowed seven runs on nine hits, striking out two batters, walking four and hitting four.
Imai, and freshmen Tomiko Coito and Denae Rivera all went 2-for-4 at the plate, while junior Tiani Luga contributed an RBI single in a two-run fifth inning.
Sophomore Kawena Lim-Samura took the loss for Ka Makani. In 4 2/3 innings, she allowed eight runs on six hits, walking five batters and striking out two.
Senior Alex Disney went 2-for-3, with her two-run single highlighting a five-run sixth inning that got HPA within 8-7. Doi was 2-for-2, and Kiyota went 2-for-5.
Kohala 000 620 2 — 10 7 1
Hawaii Prep 100 015 0 — 7 9 4
c Keaau 4, Hilo 3: The host Cougars rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh to upend the Vikings.
Keaau’s Shantell Pacatang-Hirai walked on four pitches, and leadoff hitter Rylan Hakoba singled to left, putting runners on first and third. After Hilo third baseman Seini Nau made a diving catch, Jacy Pagala bounced a ball to first baseman Caitlyn Price, who went deep to her right.
Price looked to throw to first, but no one was there. Pagala outraced Price to the bag for an RBI infield single. Hakoba later scored on a wild pitch, giving the Cougars another emotional win.
“The girls showed up late for the game,” Keaau coach Boy Wong said. “The girls didn’t arrive until the last inning. Our pitching kept us in the game after we made those mistakes.”
Pagala finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Hakoba also went 2-for-4 to lead the Cougars (6-2), who lost to Hilo 8-7 in the teams’ first meeting.
Momi Cariaga, who pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Chelsey Pacatang-Hirai, earned the victory. She struck out one batter.
In five innings, Pacatang-Hirai allowed three runs — one earned — on five hits. She walked five and struck out four.
Ashlyn Kaneshiro, who went the distance in an 8-6 win over Kamehameha-Hawaii a day earlier, took a tough-luck, complete-game loss for Hilo (6-2). She allowed four runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out one.
Offensively, Raven Hall went 2-for-2 with two RBIs to lead the Vikings.
Hilo 011 010 0 — 3 5 3
Keaau 011 000 2 — 4 8 3
c Waiakea 7, Kamehameha-Hawaii 2: Skyler Agrigado homered and tripled to finish with four RBIs, and Chelsea Camello struck out seven in a three-hitter as the host Warriors rebounded after suffering their first league loss in five years.
Agrigado’s homer was her second in the past three games, a deep opposite-field drive to the gap in right-center with a runner aboard in the third inning to give Waiakea a 5-1 lead. In the first, the senior third baseman stroked a two-run triple to right. With two runners aboard in the sixth, Agrigado just missed another extra-base hit when her fly down the left-field line curled foul. She finished 2-for-4.
Waiakea (6-1), which saw its 59-game BIIF winning streak end in a 5-1 loss Wednesday at home to Keaau, moved back into first place in the Division I East Hawaii standings, one half-game ahead of the Cougars and Hilo.
Camello helped get Waiakea back on a winning track by retiring 15 of 16 batters after an error helped Kamehameha take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The senior right-hander allowed an earned run and a walk.
Junior Catcher Gayla Ha-Cabebe was 2-for-2 with a walk for Kamehameha (3-6). She tripled to left field in the sixth and scored on Jaylen Shiroma’s RBI single. In the first, Ha-Cabebe singled, and courtesy runner Kalyn Kanaeholo eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Samantha Simmons pitched six innings and took the loss, yielding six earned runs on eight hits and six walks — four to catcher Ariana Mareko.
Waiakea shortstop Brandi Maximo was 2-for-2, singling to lead off the bottom of the first and scoring on a balk.
Waiakea tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth with the help of two throwing errors. Pinch hitter Melissa Tubera led off with a single, and Anela Granito-Wallace added a run-scoring hit.
Kamehameha remained a game ahead of Pahoa in the East Hawaii Division II standings, and the Warriors own the tiebreaker after winning two of the three meetings this season against the Daggers.
Kamehameha 100 001 0 — 2 3 2
Waiakea 302 002 x —7 8 1
c Ka‘u 4, Pahoa 3: Shaylin Navarro pitched a six-hitter to help the host Trojans (1-6) earn their first win of the season.
Navarro outdueled Vaaigaomata Wilson, who also went the distance in the loss for Pahoa (2-7).
No other statistics were available at press time.
Pahoa 000 030 0 — 3
Ka‘u 200 002 x — 4
