Kimberly Okaneku's sacrifice fly to right field brought home Hillary Uekawa from third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning last night to lift Maryknoll to a pulsating 7-6 victory over Lahainaluna in the first round of the Data House Softball State Division I Championships.

The Spartans, making their first Division I state tournament appearance, improved to 9-6 in the regular and postseason and will face No. 1 seed and O'ahu Interscholastic Association champion Mililani (14-1) in today's 3 p.m. quarterfinal at Rainbow Wahine Stadium.

"We just have to come back harder and try our best," said Okaneku, a senior catcher. "This is our first time, so it's exciting."

Maryknoll, which took third place in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, certainly made its first DI state tourney appearance a thrilling one.

The Spartans fell behind 2-0 in the first inning and 3-0 in the third before rallying to take a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the fourth, only to see the Lunas (15-4) tie it 6-6 with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Uekawa then led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to right field and advanced to second on an error with Ariel Silva's sacrifice bunt. Jessica Guillermo advanced both runners with another sacrifice bunt, setting up Okaneku's medium fly ball to right that scored Uekawa when the throw was wide of the plate and a bit up the line.

"I just tried to put the bat on the ball and make something happen," said Okaneku, who was 0 for 3 with a line out and two groundouts. "I was hoping (the fly ball) was deep enough."

Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said he had confidence in letting Okaneku swing away, especially after she produced a game-winning triple to score his daughter with the winning run in the eighth inning against Kamehameha earlier this season.

"When Hillary gets on and Kimi comes up, we always seem to pull through," Uekawa said. "Kimi is our best clutch hitter, so I had to let her swing away."

Lahainaluna — the Maui Interscholastic League runner-up — was swinging away from the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead after consecutive singles by Ikapela Watson, Brittney Baybayan and Kimberly Shimizu. The Lunas made it 3-0 in the third when Baybayan's single to right brought home Tiffany Bonifacio.

The Spartans closed to 3-2 in the bottom of the third after Shay Shibata hit a triple to right field to bring home Joni Shimomura and then scored on Uekawa's fielder's choice grounder. They went up 6-4 in the fourth on an error and five hits, highlighted by Shibata's two-run single and a run-scoring single by Uekawa.

Lahainaluna closed to 6-5 in the sixth on Bonifacio's sacrifice fly to left and then tied it with two outs in the seventh when Shimizu singled, advanced to second on a hit batter and then scored after two wild pitches.

"We felt as a team we could come into this tournament and do some damage," Lunas coach Earle Kukahiko said. "We hit the ball, but we were hurt by errors because of our youth. We had some injuries and had to change our defense, and I think that slowed us down a bit ...

"But Maryknoll is a very disciplined team and they came a long way (from being in Division II last year). They deserved to win this game."

LAHAINALUNA (15-4) 201 101 1—6 11 2

MARYKNOLL (9-6) 002 400 1—7 10 0

Tiffany Bonifacio and Cheylah Uyeda. Ariel Silva and Kimberly Okaneku. W — Silva. L — Bonifacio.

Leading hitters — Lahainaluna: Bonifacio 2-3, double, 2 RBIs; Ikapela Watson 2-4; Brittney Baybayan 2-4; Kimberlee Shimizu 2-4, 2 RBIs; Jaime Smythe triple, 2 runs. Maryknoll: Shay Shibata 2-4, triple, 2 runs, 3 RBIs; Hillary Uekawa 2-3, 2 runs, 2 RBIs; Silva 2-3.

MOANALUA 2, WAIPAHU 1

Britni Ronolo's ground single to center field scored Michelle Acosta from third base with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to lift Na Menehune (14-2) over the Marauders (6-11).

Moanalua, the OIA's third-place team, will play No. 2 seed and ILH champion Kamehameha (13-1) in today's 7 p.m. quarterfinal.

Waipahu, the OIA's sixth-place team, had the tying run on third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Na Menehune starter Sarah Robinson induced a foul pop-up to catcher Kylee Oshiro for the final out.

Moanalua took a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning when Mary Ann Giles scored on Acosta's bloop single to right field. The Marauders tied it in the bottom half on Kelcey Viliamu's home run over the fence in right-center.

Acosta reached on a fielder's choice grounder in the seventh inning, and advanced to second base on Hoku Dela Cruz's single to center. Robinson then was intentionally walked to load the bases for Ronolo, the cleanup hitter who hit the first pitch back up the middle to score Acosta.

Waipahu threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Sina Nu'u led off with a walk, advanced to second on a hit batter and stole third with two outs. But Robinson got the pop-up on a 2-2 pitch to end the game.

MOANALUA (14-2) 000 010 1—2 12 2

WAIPAHU (6-11) 000 010 0—1 2 1

Sarah Robinson and Kylee Oshiro. Esamartina Apo and Andrea Felise-La'a. W — Robinson. L — Apo.

Leading hitters — Moanalua: Michelle Acosta 2-4; Hoku Dela Cruz 2-4; Mary Ann Giles 2-3, run. Waipahu: Kelcey Viliamu homer.

CAMPBELL 1, CASTLE 0

Bre Patton pitched a four-hitter with six strikeouts and drove in the game's only run with a single in the third inning to propel the Sabers (12-4) past the Knights (11-6).

Campbell, the OIA runner-up, will face No. 3 seed and defending state champion Baldwin (15-3) in today's 5 p.m. quarterfinal.

The Sabers scored after Loreen Egdamin reached on a one-out single, stole second and scored on Patton's single to left field.

Castle, the OIA's fifth-place team, had the tying run on third base in the top of the seventh after Kaitlynn Wills hit a one-out single to center, advanced to second on Kori Berinobis' single and took third on a groundout to second.

But second baseman Nicole Arata caught Brooke Ka'ulula'au's line drive to end the game.

CASTLE (11-6) 000 000 0—0 4 1

CAMPBELL (12-4) 001 000 X—1 4 2

Chandelle Dacosin and Kelsea Berinobis. Breanne Patton and Anuhea Yamaguchi. W — Patton. L — Dacosin.

Leading hitters — Castle: Brooke Ka'ulula'au 2-3.

SACRED HEARTS 4,

KAILUA 0

Joslyn Eugenio pitched a four-hitter with five strikeouts and no walks, and the Lancers (10-5) took advantage of five Surfriders (9-7) errors to advance to today's 1 p.m. quarterfinal against No. 4 seed and Big Island Interscholastic Federation champion Waiakea.

Sacred Hearts, the ILH runner-up, scored two runs on a hit, two errors and a wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth to break a scoreless tie, then made it 4-0 in the fifth after another error and RBI singles by Tai Vegas and Keicha Brunn.

KAILUA (9-7) 000 000 0—0 4 5

SACRED HEARTS (10-5) 000 220 X—4 6 1

Krista Dumandan and Johnna-Lynn Pedro. Joslyn Eugenio and Chelsea Kamai. W — Eugenio. L — Dumandan.

Leading hitters — Sacred Hearts: Raecha Kauahikaua 2-3; Sydney Vegas 2-4.

Read Wes' blog on prep sports at wwww.preptalk.honadvblogs.com.