Freshman Mya Grado belted a home run and drove in five runs as Pearl City exploded for nine runs in the final two innings in a 14-4 win over Leilehua on Tuesday afternoon at Ka‘ala Elementary School field.
In all, Pearl City (3-0-2) bashed three home runs against the young Mules (2-3-1).
“We’ve been challenging the girls this whole season to get out of their comfort zone to do something to help the team instead of worrying,” Chargers coach Chad Obara said. “Today, we saw some girls that might be ready to take over for this bunch of seniors that are going to be leaving, so that’s a good sign.”
It was a script of timely hitting by the visiting Chargers and missed opportunities by the Mules. Leilehua stranded 14 baserunners, leaving the bases loaded in the second, third and fifth innings.
“They’re very well coached. They execute and they hit when we didn’t,” Mules coach Wendell Au said. “There’s really no excuses. It was a very tough game, especially for our seniors. They wanted to end it on a good note.”
It was the last regular-season home game for Leilehua.
The Chargers scored three runs in the top of the second inning, which actually should have been four. Jo-Zayah Iriarte walked with one out, but when Julia Oshiro followed with a home run to center — with Leilehua outfielder Trinity Somera leaping at the fence for the ball — Iriarte held up and Oshiro inadvertently ran past her. They both ran across home plate, but Iriarte was ruled out by the home plate umpire.
“One run,” he said to the Pearl City dugout.
The Chargers didn’t cool off. Haydyn Yamaguchi followed with a single and Grado, the No. 9 batter, belted an opposite-field home run to right, giving the Chargers a 3-0 lead.
“I used my legs more than I usually do,” she said.
The Mules pushed a run across in the bottom of the third. Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez led off with a bloop triple down the right-field line, and came home on a one-out single to right by Kanani Kekahuna-Fernandez. However, they left the bases loaded for a second consecutive inning.
With senior pitcher Amaris Cabato holding a 3-1 lead after four innings, the Chargers added two more in the fifth. Tiari Hernandez walked with one out and Jewel Larson followed with a home run to right-center for a 5-1 Pearl City lead.
The Mules got a leadoff single by their pitcher, Xaniah Toaiva-Talo, to begin the bottom of the fifth. After a sacrifice bunt by Daysha Paracuelles and a pop-up by Dynestee Kanae-Huihui, Leihulu Umiamaka launched a home run to left, cutting the lead to 5-3.
Leilehua got two more runners on base before the Chargers brought Grace Kikuchi in. She walked Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez to load the bases, but got Lovey Kepaa on a pop-up to end the inning.
Pearl City’s bats then torched the Mules in the sixth. Oshiro walked and came home on a one-out double by Grado for a 6-3 lead. After Taryn Fujioka walked, Kepaa moved from shortstop to the pitcher’s circle. Abigail Aribal’s sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to third and second, Hernandez then swatted a three-run home to left, extending the lead to 9-3.
In the seventh, the Chargers put the game out of reach with five runs, aided by three Mules errors. Lainey Honma led off with a single and later scored on an infield scoring error.
Amaris Grado’s single to left brought in Iriarte and Oshiro, and Taryn Fujioka and Tiari Hernandez added RBI singles as Pearl City opened the lead to 14-3.
Leilehua tacked on a run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Torie Au singled, Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez walked and Lovey Kepaa reached base on an infield error, scoring Au.
Pearl City will close the season on Thursday at Kailua. Leilehua has scrimmages with Maryknoll and Mililani, then plays at Moanalua on Saturday.
AT KA‘ALA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Pearl City (3-0-2) 030 024 5 — 14 13 3
Leilehua (2-3-1) 001 020 1 — 4 9 4
Amaris Cabato, Grace Kikuchi (5) and Jo-Zayah Iriarte. Xaniah Toaiva-Talo, Lovey Kepaa (5) and Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez. W—Cabato. L—Toaiva-Talo.
Leading hitters—Tiari Hernandez 2-3, HR, 3 RBIs, 2 runs, walk; Jewel Larson 2-5, HR, 2 RBIs, run; Julia Oshiro 2-3, HR, 2 runs, RBI, 2 SB, walk; Mya Grado 3-4, HR, double, 5 RBIs, 3 runs. Leilehua: Kalia Kekahuna-Fernandez 2-3, triple, run, 2 walks; Jerrine Nartatez 2-3, walk.
