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The run is done for Campbell. Punahou got steady pitching from ace Kennedy Ishii en route to an 11-3 win over three-time defending state champion Campbell on Thursday night at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The ILH runner-up will face Leilehua for the state crown tonight. Ishii was consistent and clutch against a great contact-hitting team. She seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. Again. “I think it’s just focusing on hitting the spots, not trying to do too […]

First-year Leilehua softball coach Wendell Au has a list of five goals he asks of his team in any game. “It’s simple goals. It’s five goals that will continually win games,” said Au, a 1992 Leilehua graduate and seven-year assistant with Mules softball. “Make good choices baserunning, quality at-bats, no errors, pitchers hit the spot and we just out-hustle a team. And that five things can win a ballgame.” He’s yet to have a “perfect” game for those criteria, but […]

They were the Terrific Ten, this team in green and black. The Konawaena Wildcats faced adversity this spring. A small, young roster. A team without a head coach, who resigned before the playoffs. So athletic director Kellye Krug became interim coach, and the Wildcats battled through. They finished second in the BIIF to Kamehameha-Hawaii, a team that reached the Division II state final with a win over Kalani today. Konawaena? The Ten That Could had powerhouse St. Francis on the […]

After all the wins over Goliath programs of the ILH, the team in baby blue was facing extinction. Termination. Elimination. Saint Nation was concerned. Very, very concerned. St. Francis beat seven Top 10 teams this season, a second-best .700 winning percentage in that elite company. And Konawaena cared not a whit. It took all the willpower, composure and clutch-ability the St. Francis had to rally with five runs in the final two innings for an 8-7 semifinal win over Konawaena. […]

At high noon, the softball diamond can be a desolate desert for parched, wanting ace pitchers. For Kalani and Kamehameha-Hawaii, tinges of desperation had more to do with their hurlers and the strike zone. The teams combined for 20 walks as the first Division II semifinal matchup of the DataHouse/HHSAA Softball State Championships became a test of patience. And inches. Kamehameha-Hawaii’s wild 8-7 win puts the Warriors in position to play for its first state championship in softball. The BIIF […]