Youthful Cougars overpower rival Falcons in season opener

Rayden Aoki | SL

Freshman Makenzie Yokoyama won her first high school start in style, allowing just three runs on a single hit in Kaiser's 8-3 win over rival Kalani in both teams' season openers.

"It felt good because my defense had my back and then our offense also got us up (early)," said Yokoyama, who got the start with senior Elyse Yoshioka still out of the lineup.

"It's a really good surprise." said Yamasaki. "We miss not having Elyse but Makenzie stepped up and showed us what she's got."

Her performance on the mound was backed by eight runs on eight hits by the Cougars' lineup, including a pair of hits by Rylee Yamasaki and Lia Hamamura, both juniors. Kaiser has just two seniors on their entire roster, but four freshman and five sophomores, of which four are starters.

"The wind was little difficult, but we did a good job of adjusting, hitting the ball down, not too many pop outs," said Yamasaki of making the most of the blustery conditions today in Hawaii Kai.

Yamasaki did her damage with the bat early on, reaching on a single then scoring on a Hamamura base knock in the first, then lacing a triple in the fifth. Hamamura's moon shot single in the bottom of the sixth scored a pair of runs, much to the delight of the Kaiser dugout.

"It was really huge because it scored the two runs, so it kept the rally going," said Yamasaki of the hit.

There were only two extra base hits in the game, one by Yamasaki and the other a triple by Yokoyama to lead off the second.

Kalani only managed a single hit in the contest, but it came at a key moment with two outs in the top of the seventh, as Naomi Stremick connected with a pitch that dropped in to center, allowing both Emma Fujino and Jayslin Simpliciano to come in the score to make it 8-3.

The game ended two pitches later on a ground ball out.

Yokoyama gave up two earned runs in the contest, both on the Stremick single, the other came on a fielding error after allowing two runs aboard via a walk and a hit batter. She walked four but struck out nine.

Kalani started the contest with Stremick, who yielded to Kadie Carpio after 3 1/3 innings of work. Both pitchers allowed four earned runs a piece.