Greg Yamamoto | SL

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KAKAAKO - Redemption was just grand for Dalexy Sanchez

Campbell's senior left fielder drove in six runs, hit two home runs, including a grand slam, in the No. 6 Sabers' 19-1 win against Kapolei, in five innings because of the 10-run rule, to capture their first Division I OIA championship since 2023 and ninth overall Saturday night at McKinley's Tiger Softball Stadium.

It was the fifth run-rule outcome in OIA title games since 2010, including the third in a row.

It was Sanchez's first start in recent weeks.

"Amazing," Campbell's first-year coach Katie Manuma said of Sanchez's performance. "She didn't play the first game against Kalani (the quarterfinal), and she said, ‘Put me in, coach,' and she responded well. That's what I love about (this team). They responded well to setbacks. She responded well to sitting."

Added Sanchez: "Last game, I didn't start because Coach felt I needed a break. It wasn't mentally good for me. When I found out I was going to be back in today, I knew I had to be there for my team and not let yesterday and my other performances affect the way I play, and I knew I just needed to show up for my team and show up for myself and my coaches as well."

The game was memorable for sophomore pitcher Lily Perreira, who notched her second win in the tournament. She allowed an unearned run, scattered four hits, and two walks.  Her teammates spotted her six runs before she even entered the pitching circle.

"It helped me, mentally, to know, ‘Yeah, I got this," Perreira said of inheriting the early big lead.

Perreira was literally raised on Campbell softball. Her father, David Perreira, was an OIA champion in baseball in 1994. He has also been an assistant for softball and baseball at Campbell, which claimed titles,, so Lily has always been around the game. 

"I always looked up to the Campbell Sabers and always told my dad I'm going to one, one day. My main thing that I always used to tell him is ‘I'm going to be a pitcher' and just to be out here as a Campbell Saber as a pitcher and experience all this with my team is great."

It was special for Epenesa, too, in her first season as head coach. She was taking over a storied program that has been perennial contenders the past two decades.  She was a dominant pitcher in Campbell's first state champion team in 2010, under then-coach David Perreira. Campbell finished 8-5 during the regular season and was the West's third seed in the tournament. The Sabers haven't lost five regular-season games since 2022 (5-5). This season, the Sabers scored what was then a season-high 18 runs in a 19-18 loss to Pearl City. The journey to get to the title game was harder than winning the title game itself

"It was very hard to get here," Epenesa said. 

The season was a journey, she said.

"I'm proud of these girls with the fight they have," Epenesa said. "Just the way they responded to the setbacks. It's the way we got here; it's so beautiful that they still showed up, still disciplined, all while losing. Being able to find a way, I'm so proud of them."

The Sabers ambushed Kapolei starter Maya Jelf by batting around in a six-run first inning, highlighted by Sanchez's grand slam to left.  The Hurricanes' only run came in the bottom of the first. But the Sabers added a run in the third (on Sanchez's second homer to left) and two in the fourth to take a seemingly commanding 9-1 lead. But these are OIA West teams, so nothing was safe.

"This game was so special," Sanchez said. "It was a big accomplishment for us, after going a little downhill the past few games we had, just coming back in the OIAs and just locking in and doing what we know we can (do) and continue to trust each other and not having doubt in each other."

Kapolei starter Jelf pitched five non-consecutive innings and was charged with 10 runs. She left early in the fifth and returned 10 batters later after the two relievers who followed failed to register an out after facing a combined nine hitters, allowing nine runs.

Taileen Asoau also hit a grand slam; she capped a 10-run sixth that saw 16 Sabers sent to the plate. Campbell has won OIA titles under four different coaches: Loke Huddy, namesake of the Sabers' softball field, won in 1977, the inaugural year of the sport in the OIA. Since so few schools had softball that season, East and West schools played in one league. She also won in 1992; David Perriera won in 2011, a year after he won the Sabers' first state title; Michael "Shag" Hermosura won in 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019, and 2023; and Manuma became the fourth.