KAPA‘A — Kapa‘a High School School batter Savannah Simons drove in Kaena Gracie for the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Warriors a 4-3 victory over Waimea High School Thursday afternoon at Bryan J. Baptiste Sports Complex.
Menehune softball coaches Teddy Perreira, and Micah Furtado both concluded the first Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation-sanctioned conference game of the season was a “playoff atmosphere.”
The Warriors, who won the last three consecutive conference championships, watched a 3-0 lead they established after three innings, slowly evaporate.
Kapa‘a scored its first two runs in the bottom of the second when Tira Ann Kaui drove in Kaylana Maghanoy to give the Warriors a 1-0 advantage.
Seijia Makanani later grounded into a fielder’s choice double that scored Kai-lee Kupihea, building the lead to 2-0.
At the bottom of the third inning, the Warriors again increased it’s lead when Simons scored on an error by third basemen Kalea Huihui-Caberto.
Trailing 3-0, the Menehune roared it’s way back to the tie the game.
Waimea scored its first run of the game when Huihui-Caberto grounder to second-base scored Kiana Kaiwi to narrow the deficit 3-1.
At the top of the sixth, the Menehune made it a one-run game when Kaiwi blasted a solo homerun dead straight to center field.
At the top of the seventh trailing 3-2, Kayla Prigg tied the game when she flew out, and Jaime Horner tagged up from third to score the game-tying run.
Though the Menehune lost the game on Simons’ game-winning hit, Perreira said he liked the resilience his team displayed in loss to the defending KIF champs.
“We have a young team, and the young freshman didn’t commit many errors,” Perreira said. “Kapa‘a is a great team, and we just have to keep working at it.”
Furtado didn’t expect the game not to be competitive.
“Every game has to feel like a playoff game,” Furtado said. “Every team we play is legit, and every game is a challenging day in and day out, and we have to continue to get better. We have to focus on trusting everything we worked in during the winter and continue to execute.”
