KAILUA-KONA — With just four outs left to keep its season alive, Kapolei dug deep and decided it was not done playing quite yet.
Down 4-1 with two outs in the sixth inning, the Hurricanes rallied for nine runs, stunning BIIF runner-up Waiakea with the haymaker of a stanza and securing a 10-4 victory on Wednesday in an HHSAA tournament play-in game.
“It took a while for us to make adjustments,” Kapolei head coach Keoke Behic said. “Everybody was out in front. Once they started to hit the opposite way and follow the game plan, we started to string together some hits.”
With the win, Kapolei advances to the state tournament stage for a fifth consecutive year. The Hurricanes will face fellow OIA squad Leilehua on May 1 in a first round game.
With Waiakea eliminated, Kealakehe is the BIIF’s lone representative. The Waveriders — who won their first title this season — have a seeded berth and a bye. They will play the winner of Iolani-Waianae on May 2 in the quarterfinals on Oahu at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
Senior Hurricane Kayli Nakoa notched two hits during the sixth inning explosion. She led off the inning with a single — eventually scoring — and then cranked a three-run homer over the left field fence.
“I was just thinking, “Oh my, did it go over. Please, please,’” Nakoa said with a laugh. “But then the umpire gave the signal and I could breathe.”
Not much was going right for Kapolei early on. The OIA squad struggled to make consistent contact off of Waiakea starter Halee Sweat, which was due to a little more than their bats having jet lag from the island hop over from Oahu.
“Facing a pitcher that doesn’t’ throw that hard but hits her spots took some adjustment,” Behic said. “It was a different feel, a different atmosphere. But for us, it’s about trusting the process. They were a little bit out of their element, but when they got that sense of urgency, they started to trust the game plan.”
Nakoa led the way for Kapolei with a trio of RBIs in the game where she was 2 of 4 from the dish. Zhanaye Mattson added a pair of RBIs and Shaycelen Akiona nailed a solo home run that followed Nakoa’s in the sixth.
“We didn’t want our season to end,” Nakoa said. “We had to get it done. We were cheering our hearts out and trying to lift each other up.”
Chasity McKean entered in the fifth inning and picked up the win for Kapolei, not allowing a hit in her three innings of work. Jade Behic started the game for the Hurricanes, tossing four frames. She allowed four runs on seven hits.
“Chasity came in and stopped the bleeding,” Keoke Behic said. “We really needed that.”
Waiakea grabbed the early momentum when Alize Kaapana crushed a three-run home run down the left field line, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third. The Kapolei outfielder went for the heroic play, but ran out of real estate and tumbled into the makeshift fence, taking about 10-feet of it with her.
Kapolei showed signs of life in the fifth inning, breaking the shutout when Jade Behic hit a double that drove in Larchelle Tuifao. However, Waiakea got the run back in the bottom half of the inning on Jolene Hirata’s double that brought in Ziara Tosie.
An interesting wrinkle to the game was the fact that it was being played at Kealakehe’s field. Looking on was former Kapolei head coach Tony Saffery, who led the Hurricanes to their only state title in the sport in 2004. Saffery is now an assistant for Kealakehe, which is coached by his daughter, Loni Mercado. However, he still has some ties to his former program, helping coach the Kapolei JV program in the fall, Behic said.
“It’s always good for him to be around,” said Keoke Behic, who followed Saffery as just the second coach in program history.
As for the state tournament, the Hurricanes are excited to have their ticket punched and be able to fight another day.
“We want to make some noise,” added Nakoa. “People may doubt us but we never will back down from a challenge.”