Armada wins 14th annual New City Nissan Classic


Iolani's Aleia Agbayani batted 4 for 5 with a triple shy of the cycle. She also won the Home Run Derby challenge earlier in the day. CJ Caraang | SL

WAIPIO — Team Armada, coached by Damien's Eddie Kealoha, took home the 14th Annual New City Nissan Goodwill Softball Classic championship with a thunderous 16-10 win over Team Rogue. The two-day senior classic at the Patsy T. Mink Central Oahu Regional Park featured eight total games with four mixed teams pitted against each other.

With a tied 3-3 ballgame after one complete inning, Team Armada quickly loaded the bases in the top of the second and Punahou's D'Asha Saiki hit a hot grounder to center field to score Campbell's Dyllan Sanay-Shiraishi and Iolani's Aleia Agbayani. Mililani's Katie Carlos and Saint Francis' Jordyn Lono also brought in runs on RBI hits to make it a 7-3 lead.

Team Armada extended its lead to seven runs in the top of the third before Leilehua's Alana Jarra-Parker got the best of former Mules teammate Alyssa Abe with a three-run launch over the left field fence.

Iolani's Agbayani, who shined in leading the Raiders to the HHSAA Division I state title and was named tournament Most Outstanding Player, finished Sunday night with a 4-for-5 outing on two home runs, falling a triple shy of the cycle. She batted in three runs and scored five times.

In the third place game, Team Leaf defeated Team Titan, 8-6.

The score was all tied up at 5 heading into the fifth inning. Roosevelt's Maya Nakamura led off the top half for Team Leaf with a high chopper into the 6 hole. Campbell's Alesia Ranches snagged it down but her threw to first base was a little wide. Leilehua's Kayla Hale then hit a ground-single in the 3-4 hole to put runners at the corners.

Kaiser's Precious Aholelei stepped up to the plate to face her twin sister Primrose Aholelei, but a wild pitch scored Nakamura for the winning run. For added measure, Precious Aholelei smacked a ground-rule double down the left-field line to make it 7-5.

Kapolei's Jade Behic added another run on an RBI grounder up the middle. Behic, who also was the winning pitcher, finished the game 3 for 4 with two doubles and four RBIs.

The classic also featured several skills challenges with Team Rogue's Abe, Tyra-Lynn Pai (Waianae) and Mikayla Chun (PAC-5) beating out Team Armada's Shandi Matsumoto (Kalani), Chasity McKean (Kapolei) and Lono in the Golden Arm Challenge by a score of 24-12.

Each player, situated in one of three parts of the outfield, took three throws home with three points awarded for a throw on the fly and one point for one-hopping it.

In the Road Runner Challenge, three players from each team ran a timed relay race around the basepaths with the first two runners going halfway across and the last runner going the full trot. 

Team Rogue's Jaeda Cabunoc (Roosevelt), Kaena Keliinoi (Saint Francis), Kalimalani Cabico (Nanakuli) took first place with a time of 23.96 seconds. Team Titan's Jennika Odo (Kailua), Lauren Peiler (Punahou) and Kailee Mahelone (Saint Francis) followed with 24.16 seconds and Team Armada's Saiki, Agbayani and Xailey Kamealoha (Waianae) with 29.09 seconds.

Agbayani won the Home Run Derby with four homers out of five swings. Kalani's Cherise Horita and Keliinoi both finished with three while Saiki had two.