WAILUKU — The Maui Interscholastic League softball All-Star team was widely spread between the league — no team landed more than two players on the team and the 11-player squad came from seven teams.

Two players from Division I champion Baldwin landed on the first team, but no one did so with more emphasis than Bears' shortstop Shauna Ah Yen. Ah Yen, a junior who was the only returning starter from Baldwin's 2007 state championship team, was the choice of the league's coaches as MIL Player of the Year.

The intense 5-foot-3 infielder led a team made up mostly of sophomores and freshmen to the MIL Division I crown.

''It feels unexpected — I didn't expect to win it this year,'' Ah Yen said to The Maui News. ''It was hard this year because we thought it was just going to be a regroup season where we had to teach the younger underclassmen, but they came in and they pretty much knew what they were doing. I just pretty much helped guide the way.''

She guided the Bears to that unlikely MIL pennant after they trailed Lahainaluna for most of the season.

''She was the driving force for us,'' said Baldwin coach Joe Duran, who was voted co-MIL Coach of the Year along with Lana'i's Rod Sumagit. ''Shauna batted over .500, she was the only starter back and she is a three-year starter, so her experience was irreplaceable. Everybody else we had this year didn't ever start before and she started ever since she was a freshman. She had to move from second base to shortstop. She batted number six for us last year and moved into the clean-up spot this season.

''She was our go-to girl. In the championship game (against Lahainaluna), she was 5-for-5 — she came up biggest when we needed her the most. When we needed a run or needed an out, she did it.''

Ah Yen is joined on the first team by teammate Janessa Keahi at second base, Lahainaluna's Tiffany Bonifacio (pitcher) and Brittney Baybayan (outfield), Moloka'i's Danna-Lynn Hooper (utility) and Brittany Rawlins (outfield), King Kekaulike's Mykel Love (first base) and Kelsey Nobriga (third base), Kamehameha-Maui's Kai Duarte (outfield), Maui's Tiana Kauweloa (catcher), and Lana'i's Kaila Daniels (pitcher).

In statistics provided by coaches, Kauweloa batted .370 with 18 RBIs for the Sabers, but perhaps the biggest surprise of the season was Daniels.

The senior Pine Lass finished with 154 strikeouts while pitching all 125 innings for Lana'i, which rebounded from a 0-4 start to finish on a 9-3 run in the MIL before finishing fourth in the D-II state tournament.

That run helped Sumagit to his share of the MIL Coach of the Year award.

''Kaila was the backbone for the entire team,'' Sumagit said in an e-mail of the senior who is headed to Utah Valley State.

Daniels' personal rebound reflected that of the Pine Lasses as she had a 12.09 earned run average for the first four MIL games and then had a 2.91 ERA the rest of the way. She recorded double-digit strikeout totals in eight games with a career-high 15 against Hana.

While the Pine Lasses were quietly making their run to the state D-II final four, Duran, in his first season as Baldwin head coach, was leaning on the experience of Ah Yen to lead the young Bears to the D-I MIL title.

''What is going to be nice next year is that the other girls have one year under their belt, so Shauna is going to get some support,'' Duran said. ''We couldn't have done what we did without my assistant coaches Duane Ah Yen, Eric Rivera and Rodney Navarro. I worked with Baldwin two or three years ago, but the parents were really supportive on everything that we had to do. They helped out a heck of a lot, stepping in to do what needed to be done.''

Duran stepped in for veteran Baldwin coaches Rudy and Ryan Souza, both of whom led the Bears to state titles in their tenures.

''We didn't make a lot changes because they weren't needed,'' Duran said. ''I also got a ton of support from (athletic director) Kahai Shishido. He was fantastic.''

Shauna Ah Yen also gave credit to Pete and Karen Eldredge, the parents of former Baldwin standout Kaleo Eldredge, for helping her batting and her dad for a little bit of everything.

''I couldn't have done it without them,'' Ah Yen said.

''We couldn't have done what we did without her,'' Duran said of his shortstop.