LIHU‘E — Kapa‘a High School softball placed four players, and Waimea High School placed three, on the Hawai‘i High School DII All-Tournament team following Kapa‘a’s 13-5 win over Waimea to claim the Datahouse HHSAA Division II softball crown Saturday night at the Patsy Mink Field on Maui in cloudy and windy conditions.
Lady Warrior pitcher Seijia Makanani, the winning pitcher for the title game, and Waimea’s pitcher Taelor Camelo, shared the pitcher position on the All-Tournament team voting.
Kailee Gorospe from Kapa‘a and Kalea Huihui-Caberto from Waimea are infield all-tournament performers, and Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation players Hunter Akita of Waimea and Tira Ann Kaui of the Lady Warriors were voted to two of the three outfield positions.
Kapa‘a catcher Savannah Simons was voted the Most Outstanding Player.
The Lady Warriors, coached by college Hall of Famer Xan Silva, lost little time getting on the scoreboard, nailing three runs in the first inning of the all-KIF title game. They added another four runs in the third inning before the Menehune could push their first three runs across the plate.
Holding a 7-3 lead, Kapa‘a added two more runs in the fourth, and four insurance runs in the fifth inning before Waimea answered with two runs in the sixth frame.
Kapa‘a, the reigning KIF champions and the No. 2 seed in the state tourney, walked off with the iconic wooden trophy with 13 runs that came on 14 hits with two miscues.
Waimea, scratching its way to the title game after winning an off-island play-in game, upsetting the tournament’s top seed Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy 11-1 and nudging PAC-5 8-7 in the semifinals, continued its battle in the title contest, but came up short with just five runs on nine hits and three miscues.
Makanani picked up the distance win on the hill, allowing nine Waimea hits and five runs, two being earned runs, striking out four Menehune batters and walking four.
Camelo suffered the loss in seven innings of work, but struck out nine Lady Warrior hitters while giving up 13 runs, only six being earned runs, on 14 hits. She walked two and hit four Kapa‘a batters.
Kapa‘a left fielder, Hailey Gibson, batting in the lower half of the batting order, finished by scoring once, getting one hit and driving in three runs. Shortstop Kai-Lee Kupihea scored three times, got three hits and two RBI, and Simons had two hits and scored four runs. Kaia Davis-Caberto also scored three times and had three hits.
Akita had a solo home run among her two hits. Menehune infielder Ryleah Torres crossed the plate twice on three hits with two RBI, and Kalea Huihui-Caberto scored once on three hits with an RBI.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
