The Raiders celebrate a home run by catcher Kai Barrett in the top of the seventh inning against Punahou in an ILH contest Saturday night. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — No. 6 Iolani dished out 13 hits and its defense came up with big stops as the Raiders drubbed No. 7 Punahou, 13-2 at McKinley's Tiger Softball Stadium on Saturday.

The Raiders improve to 8-2-1 in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu standings and are right behind Kamehameha (8-1-1). Iolani plays Maryknoll (6-4) at Sand Island to close out the regular season on April 12.

The Buffanblu drop to 5-5 on the season and wrap up league play against Saint Francis (5-4) and Pac-FIVE (2-8).

"You have to look at these kind of games and ask, "Where are we? Are we building momentum? Are we still where we were or declining? If you look at where we are now, you can't really say that. The playoffs can come, doesn't mean you're going to get any better and that's what we need to deal with," said Punahou coach Bobby Makahilahila.

Macy Uyehara led off with a single, stole second then moved to third on Aleia Agbayani's bunt. Uyehara took advantage of a passed ball to score the first run of the game. Kenedi Lopes walked and Kawai Scanlan came in to crunch a two RBI home run. Kai Barrett, who reached on an error, added another run as she stole home as Ashlyn Okamoto was caught stealing second for a 4-0 lead.

"We talked about that. The past three games, we came out and had a good start. It's good for our pitchers, knowing that you're pitching with a lead at that point. That part was huge. Especially with a team like Punahou, they're going to bang the ball too so if you can score early, it can take them out of their slapping and run game a little bit. We got lucky a little bit," said Iolani coach Dean Yonamine.

Bailey Akimseu led off the second with a solo home run to get the Buffanblu on the scoreboard. She was tagged with the loss as she pitched 2 2/3 innings, of the 10 runs scored—seven were earned and walked seven batters. Brian Alejo pitched 2/3 innings and Kennedy Ishii finished the game.

All three pitchers combined to toss 12 walks.

"It definitely did," said Makahilahila, on the walks changing the complex of the game.

Jolie Fujita doubled as the ball just squeezed inside the third base foul line and scored a run on an Iolani error as they were attempting to tag her out at home to trail, 4-2.

Marley Dyer pitched 2 2/3 innings for three hits and two runs—both earned for the win, while Marcee Nakamura pitched the remainder of the game and allowed two hits.

It wasn't a stellar outing for either pitcher, but the fielders came up with big plays to limit the Buffanblu. Dyer struck out Akimseu for her only strike out of the game, but the Raiders converted the 6-4-3 double play which was big according to coach Yonamine.

"If we're going to go far, it's gotta be the defense. We work at it everyday. Leila (Anoina) and Ash (Okamoto), they work hard and well and it's their fourth year playing together. That double play was key at that time. I think that's the third or fourth one they turned. In softball, that's hard to do," said Yonamine.

Scanlan walked and stole second to start the third inning. Barrett doubled and Scanlan scored, but Makahilahila came out to contest the run.

"The ball is coming to the fielder and the fielder has the right to go for the ball. The runner has to avoid her, but she didn't and made contact with my fielder so it should've been an interference call, but the blue ruled it was an obstruction call. That was when the score was 4-2, but after that the wheels came off," said Makahilahila, on the play.

Maddie Ikeda walked and Leila Anoina reached on a fielder's choice and Uyehara walked to load the bases. Agbayani plated Ikeda and Anoina on a grounder to make it, 8-2.

"The girls were ready. They were gearing up for tonight and working hard it practice and it showed," said Yonamine.

Punahou was poised to score, but came up empty-handed in the fourth. Fujita walked and advanced to second on Lauryn Tachino's single then moved to third as Kawai Mielke grounded to second. Alyssa Rasmussen flew out to center field, however, it was deemed that Fujita left the bag early and Ikeda stepped on the bag for the third out.

"When you're losing like that, you get frustrated," said Makahilahila.

Scanlan and Barrett walked and singled respectively and Barrett moved to second on Okamoto's sacrifice bunt. Marcee Nakamura singled deep to centerfield to drive in two more runs.

Scanlan doubled and Barrett belted a home run for the exclamation mark to cap the night for the Raiders.