Led by sophomores Katie Yuu and Vesi Li'il'i, Iolani toppled top-ranked Kamehameha in a high-scoring affair, 13-10.

Li'il'i hit a three-run home run to highlight a six-run outburst in the top of third inning, as the Raiders' offense came alive in support of Yuu, who pitched five strong innings to pick up the win.

"Well we had her play with us during the presason a couple of games, but we have a lot of pitchers so we didn't want to send her up (to varsity) too early," said Iolani head coach Corey Okamura of Yuu, who was brought up to the varsity just a week ago.

"We were just hoping to get one or two innings out of her today, maybe one or twice through the lineup. She's not a power pitcher but she does hit her spots and she has a nice drop ball, so our plan was to keep the ball in the park and she did a greet job."

A strong wind heading down the valley on the Kapalama campus certainly played a factor, helping to keep more than a few well-hit balls in play.

"I think our centerfielder Brielle Asato caught two up against the fence and two more on the warning track, so it easily could have been a blowout," said Okamura. "They hit the ball well, but there were three or four or five balls that close to going out but didn't."

Ateisha Norton finally cleared the fence in the bottom of the fifth, and her three-run blast brought the Warriors to within a single run at 9-8.

Despite the Kamehameha comeback, visiting Iolani (6-4) did not lose composure, and instead, capitalized in the top of the sixth inning, bringing four runs across that proved to be the difference.

Spencer Oda led off the inning with walk, then moved to third on a line drive double by Macy Uyehara, putting runners on second and third. A Kassie Ho singled brought home Oda and moved Uyehara to third.

A wild pitch moved Ho to second, setting the table for Taylor Garcia Perreira, who doubled to right to score both Uyehara and Ho.

Courtesy runner Alyssa Espiritu moved over to third on a passed ball, and came home on Yuu's one-out grounder to make the score 13-8.

Kamehameha added two runs in the last of the sixth, but did not muster any more offense down the stretch.

"It was really important," said Okamura of Iolani's sixth inning scoring spurt. "it showed that our team is growing. We've been struggling lately at the plate. So we've been going back to basics, shortening our swings, working on our pitch selection at the plate."

"The kids are really focused right now, and I'm really proud of our kids for pulling out of a mini-slump, especially against a team like Kamehameha."

The Raiders' 6 runs in third inning by itself marked the largest output allowed by Warriors' pitching in any single game this year. Prior to the double-digit output by Iolani, Kamehameha had allowed a season-high of just four runs.

"Scoring any runs against any of the Kamehameha pitchers is a tough feat, so to get on Kama (Dung) the way we did, it did a lot for our girls' confidence," said Okamura. "And it was pretty contagious today, everybody contributed."

Iolani's Uyehara and Garcia-Perreira, each batted 2-for-3 with a double and 3 RBIs. Oda was 2-for-4 with 3 runs scored.

Haley Kodama drove in 2 runs and Kamalani Dung scored twice and added a 2-for-3 day at the plate.

Both teams pick up play again on Wednesday at 4:00 p.m., with Iolani taking on Pac-Five at Ala Wai, and Kamehameha travelling to second-ranked Mid-Pacific, a game that will feature an audio-only stream on ScoringLive.com that is also simulcasting on AM1500 on the radio dial.