Hawaiian Electric Game of the Week
Trojans and Sabers to face off for D1 softball title




A pair of familiar foes will face off for all the marbles Saturday night.

The title game of the DataHouse/Hawaii High School Athletic Association Division I Softball State Championships will feature two teams from the Red West Division of the Oahu Interscholastic Association in Mililani and Campbell.

The Trojans (14-3) have reeled off seven straight wins since their last loss — which came at the hands of the Sabers back on April 10. They ran the table in the OIA tournament to earn the No. 2 seed in the state tournament and a first-round bye.

Mililani held off Maryknoll, 3-2, in a quarterfinal game Wednesday and topped Mid-Pacific, 9-1, in Thursday's semifinal round.

Sophomore pitcher Aubree Kim opened the tournament with a no-hitter against the Spartans and buckled down after giving up a first-inning run with a one-hitter against the Owls. Kim has thrown all 14 innings in the state tournament so far with 22 strikes and 19 walks. She is 13-1 on the year with an earned-run average 1.14 in 74 innings pitched.

Kylyn Sasaki had the go-ahead RBI in the bottom of the sixth in the win over Maryknoll and belted a two-run home run against Mid-Pacific. Leadoff hitter Jade Yadao-Valdez is 4 for 6 with three runs scored for the tournament. She also hit a solo homer Thursday night.

Mililani, which is ranked third in the ScoringLive/OC16 Softball Power Rankings, is making its first appearance in the state title game since 2009, when it beat Roosevelt. The Trojans' only other state championship came in 2005.

Campbell, which has won four straight games and 11 of its last 12, finished in a three-way tie with Mililani and Waianae for first in the OIA Red West and finished third in the league tournament.

The Sabers (15-4) will be playing their fourth game in as many days. They edged Lahainaluna, 5-4, in a first-round game Tuesday, then beat top-seeded Kamehameha, 5-0, in Wednesday's quarterfinal round before routing Leilehua, 10-0, in a semifinal Thursday.

Sophomore pitcher Elisa Favela has thrown all 20 innings in the state tournament so far. She allowed no more than two hits in each game and has struck out 20 batters while allowing just one walk. Favela is 15-4 on the year with an earned-run average of 1.19 in 76 2/3 innings pitched.

Cydney Curran, the Sabers' leadoff hitter, was a perfect 4 for 4 at the plate Thursday. She scored three times and drove in two other runs. Nashlynn Anguay batted 3 for 4 and drove in four runs and Favela had two of the Sabers' four doubles with three RBIs.

Campbell will be playing in its third state final in five years and first since losing to Mid-Pacific in the 2012 title game. The Sabers, who are ranked third in the SL/OC16 Power Rankings, won their only championship in 2010.

The teams split two regular-season meetings — Mililani won 2-1 on March 15 and Campbell won 5-2 on April 10. The Trojans beat the Sabers, 1-0, in an OIA semifinal game two weeks ago.

Friday's championship game will follow the Division II title game between Nanakuli and Waimea at 5 p.m. Both games will be televised live statewide on OC16.





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