Moanalua's Makamae Kaleikini connects with a pitch against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Moanalua's Leisha Yamauchi gets set to throw a pitch to the plate against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Kapolei's Kayla Pedebone connects with a pitch against Moanalua. Sylvia Lee | SL

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Moanalua's Cyanne Fernandez is congratulated by her teammates after come home to score a run against Kapolei. Sylvia Lee | SL

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WAIPIO -- Cyanne Fernandez drove in two runs and scored off an error to rally Moanalua in the bottom of the fifth past Kapolei, 6-2 in the O’ahu Interscholastic Association Red quarterfinals on Thursday at Patsy T. Mink Central O’ahu Regional Park. The Na Menehune, the top-seeded team from the OIA Red East will take on the West’s second seed, Waianae at 7 pm on the same field tomorrow night televised on OC16.

Moanalua scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth and added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to give themselves a comfortable lead after trailing early in the first five innings.

“Is there a word bigger than huge? If there’s a word, that’s the word I want to use. There’s a bunch of people on this team who can be that person and she’s one of them, calm, smart and she can hit,” said Moanalua coach Kristie Morikawa, on Fernandez’s big 2 RBI hit.

“We didn’t let up and we knew we wanted it and we were pushing through the end and we knew there was a chance, never too late and we worked hard,” said Fernandez, a senior first baseman.

With the win, the Na Menehune improved to 12-1 on the season and is the only OIA Red East team to advance to the semifinals after Campbell knocked off Kaiser, 11-0 in six innings.

“It’s a real confidence boost and we’ve been off for about a week so coming in and getting a huge win helped us a lot,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez went 1 for 2, 2 RBI and scored a run, Makamae Kaleikini batted 2 for 4, hit a 2 RBI triple and scored a run, and Najae Reed hit 1 for 3 and a RBI to lead the Na Menehune.

Winning pitcher Leisha Yamauchi pitched all seven innings, allowing six hits, two runs, none earned and two strikeouts.

Facing two outs and two strikes, Fernandez hit a single that dropped into left field that brought in Caitlyn “Sparki” Ramiscal and Makamae Kaleikini. She advanced to second on the throw and scored off of a fielding error from left fielder Sadie Kapaku-You to put the Na Menehune up, 4-2.

“I was trying to make contact right up the middle, put the ball in play so my runner could come in,” said Fernandez, on her momentum-changing hit.

“We knew we were down and needed a couple more runs to get ahead and I believed in our team and we did it, and it gave us a lot of confidence and we really needed it,” said pitcher Leisha Yamauchi.

In the bottom of the sixth, Jadeen Sakauye hit a fly out to left field and Pedebone struck out Najae Reed for the first two outs. However, Kayla Pedebone consecutively walked Ramiscal and Dior Motas. Kaleikini hit a 2 RBI triple to left field to bring in Ramiscal and Motas to put Moanalua up, 6-2, but could not beat the throw and was tagged out at home plate.

In the top of the seventh, Yamauchi took control and caused Mizpah Leau to fly out to left field. Makana Myers popped out to Yamauchi, who dove to catch it for the second out and caused Stacia-Al Mahoe to ground out to her for the third and final out to end the game.

“We needed three more outs and had to give it our all,” said Yamauchi.

Kapolei pounced early and put Moanalua on their heels as they took a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. Amayha Dycus got onto first on a fielder’s choice and Leau singled to right field to bring in Kapaku-You and Dycus advanced to second. Myers hit a RBI single to left field to score Dycus to take an early lead.

In the bottom of the second, Leisha Yamauchi singled to centerfield and Paige Yamate came in for her as a courtesy runner. Sakauye’s bunt single moved Yamate to second, who then advanced to third on the throw. Reed hit an RBI ground single to right field to score Yamate to get on the scoreboard.

The Hurricanes got five of their six hits in the first four innings, but the Na Menehune defense bent, but didn’t break.

“I think we all knew it was getting our legs under us and catching up to the same speed, I knew it was going to take a couple innings, I was hoping it didn’t but it took a couple innings and we finally got up to speed with them and that point we finished,” said Morikawa.

In the bottom of the fifth, Pedebone walked Ramiscal and she moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Motas. Ramiscal moved to third on a passed ball and Kaleikini got on first after she hit a single past third. This set up Fernandez’s momentum-changing 2 RBI hit that lifted the Moanalua from a 2-1 deficit.

Moanalua returns to the same field tomorrow night and have played several games at CORP because their field is still under renovation.

“I feel like we play a lot of our games here, our senior night since we don’t have a field anyway, it’s good a field as any and I’ll take it,” said Morikawa.

“It helps us a lot, knowing that we have a win and got our way into states, we need to keep fighting,” said Yamauchi.