Softball

Work is work, and play is play. Somewhere along the line, Aleia Agbayani knew they were one and the same in this game of softball. The senior was a major part of ‘Iolani’s state-championship run this spring. Then came the Star-Advertiser All-State selection as player of the year. A southpaw ace pitcher who bats right-handed — .636 batting average, 16 home runs and 56 RBIs — and also plays center field with nearly no peer. Agbayani has one more exam […]

2019 was the year of the splendid splinter. Or, maybe, the year of the supreme swinger. Up and down the lineups of the state’s better teams, sluggers reached new heights. More so, positions that provided mostly defense and solid singles-oriented offense bashed their way into the spotlight more than ever. Leading the way for the 2019 Star-Advertiser Softball All-State team is pitcher/center fielder Aleia Agbayani of ‘Iolani, the player of the year. The Cal-bound senior crushed what is believed to […]

An unseeded team winning the Datahouse/HHSAA Softball State Championships in Division I was nothing new. The team to do so, however, indeed was. The ‘Iolani Raiders became the fifth straight non-league champion to win the state softball title on Saturday night, rolling up 50 runs in four impressive wins to capture the third state championship in school history and first since going back-to-back in 1999 and 2000. The ILH’s first state softball champion in D-I since 2013 ends the year […]

Watching the Datahouse/HHSAA Softball State Championships in Division I was like watching a prize fight. Game after game, two teams would slug away at each other, only in this case, it was by dumping balls over the outfield fence at record pace. In 11 winners bracket games, 36 homers were hit, more than doubling the previous mark. In the final however, one team put it all together — pitching, hitting, defense — for one of the most complete and convincing state-championship performances […]