No pressure, Kamehameha’s-Hawaii’s girls softball team, but you’re up next, and a lofty precedent has been set.
The Warriors’ baseball team had barely begun celebrating winning the state Division II title Saturday when some players got in the ears of Mykala Tokunaga and her teammates, encouraged them to go out and do the same.
“Hopefully, but that’s big shoes to fill,” said Tokunaga, the Warriors’ four-year ace. “Everybody on the baseball team has been telling us it’s our turn.
“It’s stressful.”
Last but not least during the high school sports season is the HHSAA softball tournament, which has been notoriously tough on BIIF teams, especially those in Division I.
BIIF runner-up Kealakehe (13-5) returns to states for the first time since 2011 and draws defending D-I champion Campbell in the first round at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium in Honolulu. League champion Waiakea (15-2) awaits either Iolani or Pearl City on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
BIIF D-I teams are on an 20-game losing streak at states – close games have been rare – but Waveriders coach Loni Mercado is ever the optimist.
“The girls are excited and nervous all wrapped up into one,” Mercado said. “I told them they get to play a championship game in their first game.”
Waiakea’s consolation victories in 2009 were the BIIF’s last wins at states, and the 2008 Warriors were the last Big Island team to reach the semifinals.
While Waiakea got seasoning last year, returning to states for the first time since 2011, no members of the Waveriders have played on the big stage.
Both teams have had plenty of practice time since Waiakea won the BIIF championship series in a sweep, and Kealakehe ace Kiara Cantiberos will have had 17 days to rest her injured knee.
“We know it’s going to be tough,” Mercado said, “but I told the girls that just to get this far has been a tremendous accomplishment. Let’s go out there and prepare for what we can prepare for.”
In Division II, Kamehameha (20-0) has unfinished business at states, which runs Wednesday through Saturday in Kahului, Maui. The Warriors had their eyes on this stage all season even as they worked toward a second consecutive unbeaten BIIF campaign and fifth consecutive league title.
“We knew we were going to have some struggles playing tough teams like Kohala, and we were happy with outcome,” Tokunaga said.
The Warriors lost to three-time defending champion Nanakuli in the semifinals last season and won the third-place game, matching the program’s best finish. This season, Kamehameha is seeded third, facing either Aiea or Konawaena on Thursday in the quarterfinals, and it wouldn’t have to face top-seeded Nanakuli until the finals.
After the Wildcats (8-11), the BIIF third-place team, play Aiea, the 2015 state runner-up, at 12:15 Wednesday, BIIF No. 2 Kohala (13-7) takes on Farrington at 4:45 p.m. The Cowgirls have won their first-round game two of the past three years, while Konawaena last won its state opener in 2014 – it ran into Nanakuli last season.
It’s Kamehameha, however, which carries the greatest expectations.
“You have to be on top of your game at all times, because one mistake can cost you,” Tokunaga said. “We’ve been watching a lot of teams on OC16. The Oahu girls, especially, are tough.”
