The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders punched six runs on four hits in the sixth inning to come from behind and take a 12-6 win over Kapa‘a Wednesday at the Kapa‘a High School softball field. Kyana Hirokane, leading the Kaua‘i
The Kaua‘i High School Red Raiders punched six runs on four hits in the sixth inning to come from behind and take a 12-6 win over Kapa‘a Wednesday at the Kapa‘a High School softball field.
Kyana Hirokane, leading the Kaua‘i hitting in the comeback, punched a two-RBI single to right-centerfield to ignite the fireworks in the sixth inning, Janessa Maghanoy, one of two batters hit by pitches in the frame, and Kirra Jaquias, walking first, crossed the plate, pulling the Raiders to a 6-4 deficit.
Ka‘a La‘amea, entering the game in relief of Aniase Soltren in the fifth inning, slammed an RBI single to left-centerfield driving Hirokane home followed by Daeja Cummings taking the fifth Kalia Kaui offering to push La‘amea home and knot the contest, 6-6.
Kyana Bunao, the second batter hit by a pitch in the inning and Soltren, notching an RBI single, scored for the 8-6 nod before ending the inning.
Kaua‘i capped the win with four runs on two hits in the seventh.
Kaui, in the loss, opened strong, holding Kaua‘i to just two hits through five innings before Kaua‘i marked four hits in the sixth and added two more in the seventh.
She ended striking out five Raider batters, four in the first five innings, allowed nine walks and hit four batters.
Daeja Cummings had the hard bat for Kaua‘i, finishing with a double and two RBI followed by Hirokane marking a pair of singles and three RBI and scoring once.
Jaquias singled, drove two runs home and scored three times, La‘amea marked a single with an RBI and scored once and Soltren marked a single, finished with three RBI and scored twice.
La‘amea, sharing the win with Soltren on the mound, allowed just one hit, struck out one, walked one and had no runs allowed.
Soltren, being relieved following a two-run error in the fifth, gave up five hits, struck out three Warrior batters and walked one.
Kapa‘a, opening strong, pushed the first run across the plate in the third inning when Chassidy Dabin, singling first, crossed on an RBI single from Aliyah Cummings to left-centerfield for the 1-0 nod.
The run was answered in the fourth when Jaquias, walking first with no outs, crossed on a La‘amea fielder’s choice to knot the contest, 1-1.
In the home half, Kapa‘a responded with two runs on a hit when Ta‘ashi Napoleon got aboard on a fielder’s choice followed by Reggie McCabe also getting first on an FC, Napoleon scoring on a Dabin FC and McCabe crossing on an Ariel Cummings FC, both runs scoring with two outs for the 3-2 edge.
The Warrior wahine upped the lead with three runs in the fifth on two hits and a costly Kaua‘i error, Aliyah Cummings walking first to open the frame and scoring on an RBI single by Napoleon to leftfield.
McCabe got aboard on another single, the second of the inning with two outs, and scored with Napoleon on a Ka‘anoi Marshall-generated error for the 6-2 read before the Kaua‘i bats exploded.
Napoleon finished with a double and a single, scored twice and drove in a run to lead the Warrior bats followed by Aliyah Cummings singling, scoring once and marking an RBI.
McCabe scored twice and singled, Marshall singled and posted two RBI on her error generation and Dabin scored once, singled and had an RBI to round out the Kapa‘a bats.
With the win, Kaua‘i travels to the Waimea Canyon Park for a critical double-header against Waimea, Saturday, the first pitch going at 10 a.m.
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@ thegardenisland.com.
