Asia Lee hammered a three-run homer and an RBI double as No. 8 Punahou defeated Mid-Pacific 11-1 in five innings on a breezy, sunny Monday afternoon at Punahou’s middle field.

“It’s a good start to the ILH tournament. Paige (Brunn) threw well, hit her spots. The girls were aggressive and swung the bats. I’m happy with their performance,” Buffanblu coach Dave Eldredge said.

Punahou (11-6 overall) will play at top-seeded ‘Iolani on Wednesday as the ILH double-elimination softball tournament resumes. Brunn pitched four shutout innings, allowing just one hit. She struck out two and walked two, and hit one batter. Justice Tiberi pitched one inning, allowing one run on two hits.

Coming off a win at ‘Iolani two weeks ago, the Buffanblu are playing, perhaps, their best softball of the season.

“It’s hard to say because the ILH is so tough. Every game is a flip of the coin. We keep telling our girls you can only control what you can control, so we’ve got to show up to every game and play well,” Eldredge added. “Hopefully, we’ll show on Wednesday and ‘Iolani is a little flat, maybe.”

MPI, which struggled with roster numbers this season, was 0-8 in the regular season. The Owls scored eight runs against Maryknoll and 11 against Punahou in the previous two games.

“Our pitchers did a good job, but there were errors and we didn’t hit this time,” MPI coach Aiko Gojo said. “We’ve got to have quick reflection, flush it and come to practice ready to work hard tomorrow.”

The Buffanblu got started with a single run in the bottom of the first inning. Aliya Hashimoto reached base on an infield throwing error and scored on a double to center by Lee. MPI pitcher Alexa Siu retired Megan Yanagi and Shonty Passi to limit the damage.

Siu went 2 2⁄3 innings, allowing eight runs, but only four were earned. She set the Buffanblu down in order in the second, but Punahou erupted with seven runs in the third frame.

Katie Miyasato led off with a single to left, stole second base, and Taryn Ho followed with a bunt single. With one out, Lee hammered a towering home run to left, opening Punahou’s margin to four runs.

Yanagi then reached base on another infield throwing error. She stole second base and scored on an opposite-field double to right by Passi. With two outs, Sydney Capello singled to center, scoring Passi. Capello advanced to second on a throwing error.

Shayla Yamashita then doubled to center, scoring Capello for a 7-0 lead.

Miyasato followed with her second single of the inning, plating Yamashita for an eight-run Punahou lead.

Punahou pushed three more runs across in the bottom of the fourth for an 11-0 lead.

Hashimoto led off with a single, Lee walked and Yanagi singled to load the bases. After Passi popped out, pinch hitter Mia Hashimoto walked, forcing Aliya Hashimoto home from third base. After a forceout, pinch hitter Emma Layaoen slapped a grounder to third, and the throwing error allowed Yanagi and Mia Hashimoto to score.

In the top of the fifth, Elysia Garrett led off with a single and scored on a two-out single by Jasmine Allen. Tiberi retired Hailey Brunn on a groundout to end the game by 10-run mercy rule.