In a compromise with drastic results, the Hawai'i High School Athletic Association's executive board voted yesterday to keep the Division I state tournament fields for softball and girls basketball at 12 teams and also have 12-team fields for Division II in both sports.

In a separate vote later, the board approved 12-team Division II tournaments for boys and girls volleyball for November, in addition to the annual 12-team Division I tournaments. This will be the first time Hawai'i will crown Division II volleyball champions.

Yesterday's special meeting was called to "revisit" last month's controversial vote that reduced the Division I state tournament fields for softball and girls basketball from 12 teams to eight.

The vote, which also increased the Division II fields in those tournaments from four to eight, drew criticism from some athletic directors who questioned why a compromise amendment was defeated. The amendment, which would have kept the DI tournaments at 12 teams each and increased the DII fields to six teams each, was drawn up for the June 14 executive board meeting and lost by a 3-2 vote.

The board is made up of representatives from each of the state's five high school leagues.

Yesterday, a new amendment to have the DI and DII tournaments include 12 teams each passed by a vote of 3-0, with two abstentions.

The amendment effectively was a compromise between those who wanted to keep the Division I tournaments at 12 teams and those who wanted equal opportunity for Division II.