Two-time defending champ Mililani powers way to semifinals

Kela Wheeler | SL

KAKAAKO - Two-time defending state champion Mililani does not appear to have lost a beat, despite entering this year's DataHouse Division I softball tournament unseeded.

The Trojan horse wheeled into McKinley's Tiger Softball Stadium and ambushed top-seeded Maryknoll, 14-4, in Wednesday's quarterfinals behind four home runs - two by DP/pitcher Hinano Bautista, who finished with five RBI.

It was the eighth game of the tournament to be decided by at least 10 runs, six of them by the 10-run differential mercy rule.

The Trojans play the 5 p.m. semifinal against Kapaa, the two-time defending Division II state champions, who elected to compete at Division I this year.

In the other semifinal, Oahu Interscholastic Association champion Campbell, the only seeded team left in the championship bracket, will play Moanalua in the other semifinal at 7 p.m. During the regular-season divisional crossover, Na Mehenhune beat the Sabers, 7-4, in Ewa Beach. But Campbell, the West's third seed upset Mililani, 6-4, in nine innings of the OIA semifinals, resulting in the Trojans having to play the tourney's top seed in Maryknoll in the quarterfinals.

Mililani basically picked up where it left off last season, dominating the competition. The Trojans wasted little time against the Spartans, scoring four runs in each the first and second innings. The Trojans scored their first two runs on a play where the Spartans committed two errors. If that wasn't shell-shocking enough, Bautista blasted the first of her two homers to dead center over the second permanent wall.

"The first one, not so much," Bautista said, knowing off the bat if her hits would leave the yard. "The second one, I felt it."

The thunder struck after the double-error play by the Spartans, who have just two seniors.

"We have a very young team and we had our string going on during our regular season, which we underestimated our ability," Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said. "We grew and grew with lots of confidence, but sometimes it's like the deer in the headlights. The first couple of innings were something to be desired. But it's a learning experience."

Mililani sent nine batters to the plate in the first and eight in the four-run second, which featured a triple by Bautista that scored Kamryn Aoki, who had doubled.

Bautista wasn't the only Trojan with a loaded bat. Lead-off hitter Kahiau Aina batted 4 for 4 and was a triple shy of the cycle. She was 3 for 3 before lining out to right and doubling again in the seventh.

Emma Parker batted 4 for 5, including a booming homer to left in a three-run fifth.

Taylor Adriano started in the circle for the Trojans, allowing a run, three hits, and a walk with three strikeouts.

Leading 9-1 and closing in on mercy-rule territory, Bautista, left-handed, pitched the rest of the way. A three-run fifth made it 12-1, and the Trojans needed to keep their margin at 10 to enforce the mercy rule before regulation.. But the Spartans scored three in the bottom of the fifth to pull to 12-4. Bautista labored in that frame, walking three and allowing to run-scoring hits to Sheyzelle Iokia and pinch hitter Taylor Takashita. Bautista said it was a mental thing.

"It wasn't connecting with me, but as my team started talking to me, I knew they were there to back me up and we got the job done."

The Trojans are trying to get to their 12th title game; they have five state crowns, Kailua still leads with 10 titles, the last in 2003.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at [email protected].