Posted on: Friday, February 6, 2004
Mililani reaches sixth OIA title game in row
By Wes Nakama
Advertiser Staff Writer
Mililani High School's softball team will be playing in the O'ahu Interscholastic Association championship game for the sixth straight year today.
The Trojans defeated Pearl City, 7-1, in yesterday's semifinals and will play OIA Western Division rival Kapolei at 3:30 p.m. at Mililani's campus field.
Each team is 11-1.
Pearl City (9-3) will play Kailua (11-1) at 1 p.m. at Mililani for third place. Admission ($6 for adults, $4 for students with activity books and grades 8 and below) will be charged for the doubleheader, which will be televised on Saturday.
The Trojans won four straight OIA crowns from 1999-2002 and took second to Kailua last year. But this season they had to replace two Advertiser All-State first-team selections who graduated in 2003, including ace Miki Asamura.
Sophomore right hander Dana Lee took over Asamura's role and has done the job, typified by yesterday's five-hitter against Pearl City. The Chargers had pounded out 17 hits in a 13-7 quarterfinal victory over Castle on Wednesday, but was kept at bay by Lee's off-speed offerings.
"Throughout practice yesterday, people were calling in with the Pearl City score, so I knew they were scoring runs," Lee said. "Last time we played them (a 9-2 Mililani win) they hit me pretty well (eight hits), so I expected them to hit today. I was nervous, but our defense is pretty strong and we wanted to stop their momentum from yesterday as soon as they came to the field. We wanted them to worry about us, instead of us being worried about them."
The Chargers took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Kellie Nishikida led off with a triple and scored on Krystal Plunkett's sacrifice fly.
But the Trojans exploded for six runs in the third, on just two hits and an error. Thiffany Anguay-Kalau had an RBI double, Melissa Lehano had a run-scoring single, Ciera Senas and Charity Senas each had RBI groundouts and Samantha Bolosan drew a bases-loaded walk.
That was more than enough support for Lee, who also got a leaping catch in center field from Bolosan in the seventh inning to start a double play.
"We're a good fastball-hitting team, but Dana kept us off-balance with her changeup," Pearl City coach Keoke Behic said. "She mixes up her pitches well, and when she does that, it makes her fastball more effective."
Behic said Lee's effectiveness took the Chargers out of their game.
"We're a young team, with six sophomores, and we've been working with them on a plan all year to hit their pitch, not the pitcher's pitch," Behic said. "Our strength is our offense, but today we didn't execute."
Unlike Asamura, who now pitches for the University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Lee hasn't made many headlines with perfect games or no-hitters or high strikeout totals. She struck out only three yesterday, with no walks.
But she is 9-1 and has helped Mililani reach the OIA championship game, which Asamura did four times.
"Miki is more of a hard-ball thrower; even though I'm bigger than her, she throws harder," Lee said. "I rely more on movement, and I have two different kinds of changeups. I just try to keep them off-balanced."
The Trojans defeated Kapolei, 1-0, in their regular-season meeting on Dec. 27 and each team finished 9-1 in the OIA West. Under OIA rules, they shared the West title, but Mililani earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs due to the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Marina Guzman and Krystal Plunkett; Dana Lee and Stacy Sakata. W — Lee. L — Guzman.
Leading hitters: Pearl City — Kellie Nishikida 1-3, triple. Mililani — Thiffany Anguay-Kalau 2-3, double, RBI; Melissa Lehano 2-4, RBI.
• Castle 3, Kahuku 2: At Kailua, Shannon Lum singled to drive in Shanah Farley in the bottom of the 11th inning as the Knights defeated the Red Raiders. Kahuku tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh.
Castle will play host to Leilehua today at 3:30 p.m. for fifth place in the OIA tournament and the league's final state tournament berth.
Kamaile Hughes and Kristy P. Kawehi Uli'i (5). Lia Pedrina and Stacey Yamada. W — Pedrina. L — Hughes.
Leading hitters: Kahuku — Jaylynn Kauwalu 2-5. Castle — Shanah Farley 2-4, triple; Shannon Lum 2--4.
• Correction: Kapolei's Austi Paris led off the sixth inning with a double in Wednesday's victory over Kailua. Another player was credited with the hit in yesterday's story. ILH BASKETBALL
• Punahou 66, University High 34: Jeremiah Ostrowski scored 12 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, including three 3-pointers, and Spencer McLachlin added 12 as the Buffanblu routed the Junior Bows at Kamehameha.
John Duro led University with 14 points.
PUNAHOU—Jeremiah Ostrowski 17, Storm Bridgewater 0, Danny Cho 6, Reid Fowler 2, Scott Otake 5, Brenton Lee 6, Robby Shklov 0, Morgan Ellsworth 4, Ka'ohu Berg-Hee 6, Spencer McLachlin 12, Kasey Ko 8. Totals 30 0-2 66.
UNIVERSITY—Scott Nishimoto 3, Jose Ver 0, Al Clark 5, John Duro 14, Michale Tenerio 0, James Cabras 7, Albert Li 0, Lucion Holyfeild 2, David Johnson 3, John Kelley 0. Totals 12 7-9 34.
3-point goals—Punahou 6 (Ostrowski 3, McLachlin 2, Otake 1). University High 3 (Nishimoto, Clark, Cabras).
Reported by Steve Lewis
• Kamehameha 64, Damien 46: Ikaika Hardie scored 13 points and Waika Spencer added 12 as the Warriors defeated the visiting Monarchs.
Ranson DeCosta led Damien with10 points.
Damien—Ferd Paredes 7, Antonio Cerezo Jr. 0, Micah Kikuta 0, Justin Casil 3, Kawika Lopez 7, Vaa Faualo 0, Ranson DeCosta 10, Fehi Sevelo 1, Soane Sevelo 4, Keoni Steinhoff 7, Brandon Kahale 5.
kamehameha—Ikaika Hardie 13, Keo Pacarro 3, Rykin Enos 6, Jacob Ho 9, Quincy Crowell 2, Mike Nii 0, Jacob Bode 3, Parker Bode, Waika Spencer 12, Kapono Kuikahi 2, Ernie Vidinha 8, Ikaika Shelton 2, Gabriel Spencer 4.
3-point goals—Damien 2 (Lopez, DeCosta). Kamehameha 4 (Enos 2, Pacarro 1, Hardie 1).
BOYS SOCCER Interscholastic League of Honolulu
Punahou 4, Mid-Pacific 1
Pun: Deryck Lim 3, Aaron Mun 1. MPI: Justin Akai 1.
Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2456.
