Kaiser's Marissa Oda connected with this pitch for a home run in the fourth inning in a win over Roosevelt. Oda was 3 for 4 from the plate on the afternoon. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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Kaiser rallied from an early deficit with a six-run outburst in the fourth inning to pull away from upset-minded Roosevelt, 11-7.

Second place Roosevelt (6-2) gave the Cougars all they wanted in their first meeting, a 6-5 win at home for Kaiser, and today was certainly no different.

The Rough Riders trailed 2-1 at the end of the first inning, but plated three runs in the second highlighted by a two-run single by Mari Foster to take a 4-2 advantage.

Kaiser (9-0) answered back with a run in the bottom of the second, but the Riders responded with a run of their own in the top of the next inning to lead 5-3 after three complete.

Starter Seli Aholelei struggled a bit in the early going but eventually settled, and made quick work of Roosevelt in the top of the fourth, inducing three straight fly ball outs to keep Kaiser within a pair of runs.

The scoreless frame in Roosevelt's half of the fourth not only helped build some momentum defensively, it also seemed to set the tone for the offensive explosion in the bottom of the inning.

"Usually about the fourth inning we turn it on, but our pitcher Seli, we just had to make adjustments because she threw a lot of more straight changeups, and that had them popping up, because its easier to hit the fastball," said Kaiser head coach Mitch Matsumoto.

Aholelei helped her own cause on the mound with a big hit at the plate, an inside-the-park, three-run home run that saw Aholelei slide into home and dislodge both the ball and glove from the catcher on the play.

The fireworks continued on the next at-bat, as Marissa Oda followed with a home run of her own, but unlike Aholelei's, the shot off of Oda's bat was no-doubter.

"Well I had a 3-2 count, and I was really anxious at the plate so my swing wasn't there," reflected Oda about the at-bat. "I told myself to relax and my hit came."

And it certainly did.

Oda's towering fly ball nearly cleared the building that anchors the outfield in left center, a good 250 feet away from the dish at home.

"I always expect a lot out of her (Marissa), we all expect a lot of her, and she's like one of our like top hitters," said Aholelei. "We just had to wait and be patient for that home run to come."

"That's her (Oda's) job," commented Matsumoto on the solo shot. "In the preseason, she hit a lot of home runs in the preseason, both of them (Oda and Aholelei) did."

The two other runs scored in the inning for Kaiser came off of singles by Elyse Tsutsui and Chelsea Soong.

"I knew our team was connecting the ball, we weren't fulling connecting so I knew it was going to come and it came in the fourth inning," said Oda. "I think that our team finally relaxed at the plate and did what we usually do, hit ground balls and contacts."

Roosevelt rallied to plate two runs in the sixth as Foster again came up with a big hit, this one a double that drove in two, but the Riders were not able to close the gap any further down the stretch.

Aholelei gave up 11 hits and seven runs in a complete game win. Only two of her runs were earned, and she struck out four and walked two. Her counterpart, Foster, also went the distance, allowing 11 runs (9 earned) on 16 hits. She struck out one and walked three.

Tsutsui and Oda each collected three hits each, and nine Cougars had at least one hit in the contest. The first four hitters in Kaiser's order accounted for seven runs, eight hits and eight RBI of the team total.

Roosevelt certainly didn't lack for offense, there just was more on the other side of the diamond. Kylie Kawamura scored three times and eight Rough Rider players collected a hit. The four-five-six hitters were particularly potent, accounting for five of the team's 11 hits and drove in all five runs.

Division-leading Kaiser can clinch the top seed out of the East with a win over Kaimuki Saturday.