Pac-Five did a great job of squeezing every bit of drama out of its stay at the DataHouse/HHSAA Division II Softball Championships.
Milan Ah Yat hit a go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning as No. 3 seed Pac-Five pulled out an improbable 13-12 victory over No. 1 Waimea in the tournament final Friday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
The Wolfpack were down 12-9 entering the top of the seventh. Rylee Abeshima and Kaiya Tom drew one-out walks and Elyse Yoshioka singled off the wall in center to load the bases.
Ah Yat followed with a blast to left to put the Wolfpack ahead.
“When I was in the box, I was just thinking breathe, breathe,” said Ah Yat, the daughter of former UH pitcher Paul Ah Yat. “Just needed to mellow down. It was so loud I couldn’t even hear myself think. All I wanted to do was square up the ball and help my team win.”
Ah Yat, who also homered in the sixth, finished 3-for-4 with four runs scored and seven RBIs.
“I forgot she was coming up to bat. It was too late already,” Waimea coach Teddy Perreira said. “If we walk her, then the next hitter hits a ground ball …”
Yoshioka, a sophomore, pitched a perfect seventh, her only 1-2-3 inning of the game, to end it.
“I was very nervous, my teammates were supporting me,” said Yoshioka, who struck out 10. “I just told myself give it all that I got for the team.”
Pac-Five won despite committing seven errors and Yoshioka issuing nine walks.
“We’re a very young team. Our defense is our weak spot,” Pac-Five coach Blake Lau said.
In its previous state tournament games, Pac-Five (14-3) beat Kapaa 10-9 and Nanakuli 12-11.
“We don’t really like those close games,” said Ah Yat, a senior committed to Loyola Marymount. “We always pull together and everyone contributes. It’s the whole team pushing at the beginning and finishing at the end.”
Pac-Five now has six D-II state titles, with the previous crown coming in 2016.
“I’m just so happy for this team,” Yoshioka said. “We actually lost last year to Waimea in the semifinals. It was heartbreaking, but we told ourselves this is a comeback game.”
The Wolfpack survived a difficult fifth inning Friday.
Pac-Five’s Emily Aikau led off the top of the inning with a double but was thrown out while trying to get back to the base. After Tom hit a two-out double, Yoshioka hit a hard grounder up the middle and Menehune shortstop Sianni Sakai made a diving stop to her left, got up and fired a strike to first to end the inning.
Waimea (13-2) still trailed 8-7 at that point, but the stellar defensive play seemed to ignite the team.
The Menehunes scored five runs in the bottom of the inning, with two coming in on a play that featured three errors by the Wolfpack defense.
Leici-Mae Camara led off with a homer to left that bounced past the left fielder and Sakai followed with a walk. Tita Olivas laid down a bunt to Yoshioka, Pac-Five’s pitcher, who bobbled the ball and threw wildly to third, which allowed Sakai to score. The Wolfpack catcher then threw wildly to third in an attempt to get Olivas, who came all the way around to score.
Kayla Prigge blasted a two-run homer to center later in the inning to put the Menehunes ahead 12-8.
Pac-Five’s Ah Yat homered to right in the sixth to bring her team within three.
After a scoreless Waimea bottom of the inning, Pac-Five rallied for the lead.
“I just told them go out there, relax and take one pitch at a time,” Lau said. “We’ll get on base and work it from there.”
The Wolfpack scored in the top of the first when Chloe Horikawa’s groundout plated Tom.
The Menehunes went ahead 2-1 in the bottom half on an RBI double by Olivas, who came around to score on an errant pickoff throw to first base by the catcher.
Waimea added two in the second to go up 4-1. Camara led off with an opposite-field inside-the-park home run to left on a slash. The blooper took a crazy hop past the left fielder and rolled to the wall. Torres added a run-scoring groundout.
Pac-Five took a 5-4 lead in the third on Ah Yat’s RBI single and Mana Siu’s three-run double to left.
The Menehunes tied it in the bottom half on Camara’s sacrifice fly, which scored courtesy runner Kamaile Valente.
Waimea drew five walks and benefitted from four Pac-Five errors over the first three innings. The Menehunes also left the bases loaded in the first and third innings.
The Wolfpack went up 8-5 in the fourth on Ah Yat’s bases-loaded walk and run-scoring singles by Horikawa and Siu.
Waimea cut its deficit to 8-7 in the bottom of the inning on Torres’ lead-off home run to left and Kayani Santos’ RBI single.
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Division II
Third Place Game
Nanakuli 9, Kamehameha-Hawaii 8
Fifth Place Game
Kapaa 6, Aiea 0 (5 inn.)
Consolation
Damien 4, Kohala 1
