Softball

Sometimes, perfection is not everything, and imperfection is overrated. Mid-Pacific slugger Lea Hanawahine went 4-for-4 with a home run the last time the Owls met Punahou. MPI won that contest 15-12 back on Feb. 27, the last time Punahou lost in ILH play. Hanawahine went 3-for-3 against Punahou on Wednesday, but this time the Buffanblu prevailed. No. 7 Punahou turned the tables as Ashanti Martinez kept her pitches down in the zone. The visiting Owls didn’t get one ball over […]

Ground rules and the occasionally strange bounce of a softball can affect every team. It’s just that Maryknoll has seen two recent games take a big pivot on big hits by opposing teams. It happened last week against ‘Iolani when a ball that rolled into deep left-center turned into a home run. On Monday afternoon, Spartans coach John Uekawa was convinced that a deep ball hit by Punahou’s Tiani Wayton bounced under the fence in right center, not over, and […]

In their fourth consecutive week as the No. 1 team in the state, the Campbell Sabers have a third team closing in at No. 2. Waianae, which lost to Campbell by a run but has since won four straight to move a half-game behind the Sabers in the OIA West, jumped three spots to No. 2 in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Softball Top 10 released today. The teams will play again next Thursday at the Sabers’ field. All 10 teams in […]

Two St. Francis softball assistant coaches were denied twice in requests to the ILH, asking for permission for the team to move up to Division I for league and state competition. The denials came from ILH executive director Blane Gaison to Saints athletic director Chad Konishi, according to the assistants — Ululani Reyes and Briana Tovio-Asato. The latest denial came last week, about a day and a half after the assistants started a petition. The first denial came in mid-February. […]

Big leads don’t always mean much in high school softball on Oahu this year. St. Francis went up by six runs and appeared to be cruising on Wednesday at Punahou. In the early going, the home team Buffanblu were struggling big-time at the plate. As soon as the second inning ended and after his girls had popped or flied out for five of the first six outs, Punahou coach Boy Eldredge exclaimed, “No more fly balls.” The Buffanblu took his […]

There’s a reason why fences exist. When they don’t, confusion can arise. No. 2 Maryknoll led 1-0 entering the bottom of the fifth inning of a key showdown with No. 6 ‘Iolani on Tuesday at Ala Wai Park. The Raiders took the lead, 2-1, and had two runners on base when freshman Allie Capello stepped into the box. After taking a strike on the inside corner, Capello waited and saw the same pitch in the same location. She lined the […]

Athletically speaking, Lauryn Wee‘s catch was the play of the game Tuesday at the Lincoln Elementary School softball field. It came in a losing cause, however. On the scoreboard, Kanilehua Pitoy‘s inside-the-park, walk-off homer in the bottom of the seventh that gave Roosevelt a 2-1 victory over Kaiser gets the nod as the play of the game. Things were still scoreless in the third inning when the third-ranked Rough Riders’ Maya Nakamura hit a deep drive that looked to be […]

Mid-Pacific and Waianae moved up in a big way this week in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser softball Top 10. The Owls (5-1 ILH) jumped three spots to No. 4 and the Seariders (4-1 OIA West) climbed the same amount of slots to No. 5. A surprise team so far this season, Waianae knocked off then-No. 5 Mililani 4-0 on Tuesday. Campbell (5-0 OIA West) and Maryknoll (5-1 ILH) stayed put at Nos. 1 and 2. The Sabers were fortunate to rally […]