No. 2 Mid-Pacific rallies late to get past Baldwin, 5-4

Mid-Pacific's Lindsey Matoi celebrates after a base hit against Baldwin. Greg Yamamoto | SL

MANOA – Mid-Pacific (14-4) rallied to score three runs in the bottom of sixth to take down third-seeded Baldwin (9-1) in the quarterfinals of the Data House Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I State Softball Championships.

Bears' starter Sanae Nakoa had allowed only one run through four innings of work before the Owls stormed back in the final two innings.

The Owls, ranked second in the ScoringLive/OC16 Softball Power Rankings, trailed Nakoa and the No.7 Bears, 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth when Lia Nakamoto started with a double to left field and later scored on a fielder's choice to cut the lead in half. Nakamoto finished 1-for-2, with a double and a sacrifice-fly RBI.

Then in the bottom of the sixth, Mid-Pacific got a runner on first with one out for the third hitter in the lineup, Nicole Lopez. Lopez grounded to the shortstop, but the runner on second reached safely on dropped ball by the second baseman. Lindsey Matoi followed up with an RBI-single and Sara Onishi capped the rally with a two-RBI double to push Mid-Pacific into the lead.

Matoi finished 2-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. Onishi was 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

"We found out that everyone is really close and it's more like a family than a team," said Mid-Pacific coach Alan Inaba. "I guess they wanted to make us really nervous and waited until last inning to wake up."

Mid-Pacific will take on third-seeded Mililani Thursday at 7 p.m. in the second semifinal at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.