KAPAAU – At the plate for her first career postseason at-bat, Kohala’s Mikayla Kekoa nearly came out of her shoes with a swing and a miss, practically fanning the sun-drenched fans at Kamehameha Park.
While the freshman slugger has the green light to swing for the fences, her teammates took a more measured approach with their cuts, and they obtained the desired result: hits and runs in bunches.
Spraying the ball all over their field Thursday, the hitter-happy Cowgirls got an efficient outing from surprise starter Kiana Alejandro-Cazimero and rode it to a 12-2 TKO victory in Game 1 of the BIIF Division II softball semifinals.
“Just making contact was what we wanted, and we couldn’t have asked for more,” coach Nate Kekoa said. “We worked hard and were consistent all week in batting.”
With a chance to clinch a spot in the final on Saturday, Kekoa is a coach with options. He can hand the ball to his daughter, the hard-throwing Mikalya Kekoa, or give it back to Alejandro-Cazimero, more of a control specialist. He opted for his senior in the opener, figuring the Dragons (10-7) were ready to face fastballs.
Alejandro-Cazimero delivered five strong innings, nearly getting a shutout until Honokaa collected three of their six hits in the fifth.
“I honestly thought Mikayla was going to pitch, but (coach) surprised me when he said I was going to pitch,” she said.
“I think we threw them off because they were preparing to face the fastball.”
The teams split the season series, each winning at home, but Kohala (12-5) played much cleaner ball Thursday, going error-free in the field. Alejandro-Cazimero walked five batters, but she stranded nine base runners.
The Cowgirls took advantage of three errors to score four runs in the first inning, and they were at their best in second as Cheylin Imai, Jurnee Keawe (2 for 4), Kekoa, Setsuko Kimura (2 for 3) and Keiko Yamura (two RBIs) connected for five consecutive singles as Kohala tacked on six runs against starter Keesha Matsuoka, who left after 1 1/3 innings and was charged with nine runs.
“They were on Keesha today,” Honokaa coach Wesley Fujimoto said. “She is supposed to be more consistent.”
Every Kohala starter had at least one hit by the fourth inning, and of the Cowgirls’ 14 hits, all were singles, save for Alejandro-Cazimero’s RBI double in the second. Getting a rare stint at leadoff after an inspired week of practice, Antonnete Fernandez ignited the lineup, going 3 for 4, including a pair of RBI singles.
“We were just trying to get base hits and take it slow,” Alejandro-Cazimero said.
Except Mikayla Kekoa.
“She hits really hard,” Alejandro-Cazimero said.
Kekoa lined a two-run single in second and she belted a moon shot in the fourth inning that went foul, finishing with three RBIs.
Honokaa’s Destynee Carvalho helped stop the bleeding with a relief stint, and she singled to lead off the fifth as the Dragons extended the game on run-scoring hits by Aulii Meyer and Maluhia Sanchez.
Perhaps no player epitomized the Cowgirls’ tenacity at the plate more than Symphony Kauanoe (2 for 4, two RBIs.). With two on in the fifth, she wasted countless two-strike offerings from Carvalho by pulling foul balls, then she ripped a single to left to end the game.
“Everything fell right into play,” Nate Kekoa said.
Honokaa 000 02 – 2 6 5
Kohala 460 11 – 12 14 0
