Unranked Mid-Pacific will take on second-ranked Maryknoll in the final game of the ILH Division I postseason softball tournament Saturday morning. ScoringLive photo illustration

View image 1 of 1

---

Unranked Mid-Pacific will take on second-ranked Maryknoll in the final game of the ILH Division I postseason softball tournament Saturday morning. ScoringLive photo illustration

View image 1 of 1

---

If Alan Inaba has learned anything about his team this year, it's been to expect the unexpected.

His Mid-Pacific softball team finished fourth in the five-team Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I regular season standings and entered the postseason with a four-game losing streak. True to form, however, the Owls (7-8) posted a late rally with nine runs in the final two innings to beat second-seeded Punahou, 10-5, Wednesday.

"We win some games that we're not supposed to, we lose game we're not supposed to, (but) I think now that we have second life and the girls have this attitude where, ‘whatever happens, happens,' so just go out and play, there's no pressure on us at this point and there's no pressure on our girls to perform." Inaba said. "They can just go out, play, stick together as a team and see what happens. i think not having pressure on them and just playing loose kind of relaxes them."

It was Mid-Pacific's first win in three tries against the Buffanblu this season and the most revealing of its character, Inaba said.

"We probably learned the most about ourselves in our last game against Punahou," Inaba said. "We lost our last four games of the season and everybody is down and we were down (Wednesday) 4-1 going into the sixth inning and, you know, to get those hits and score those runs off of Nicole Nishizawa, who's one of the top pitchers in our league, kind of proved to our girls that they can do it and it's not over until the last out is made. It gave them the belief that they can do it."

If the Owls are to qualify for their second consecutive Division I state tournament, they must go through Maryknoll, the second-ranked team in the ScoringLive/OC16 Power Rankings. The teams will play in the tournament final for the league's second state-tournament berth Saturday, 10 a.m. at Sand Island Field.

"They play good defense, they have good team speed, they hit the ball, they put it in play and they're well-coached," Inaba said of the Spartans. "They also have one of the top pitchers in Shearyna Labasan and this will be, maybe like the 15th time some of our seniors have faced her, including the preseason and all that, but she's still tough on us no matter how many times we face her, so we know it's going to be a close game and we're just hoping things work out."

Like Punahou, Maryknoll also swept both regular-season meetings against Mid-Pacific.

"The first game we got blown out (18-2, in five innings), but it's just one loss no matter how much you lose by, so we just chalk it up that we had a bad game," Inaba said. "The second game they scored five unearned runs (5-1, Maryknoll) off of us, so i just told the girls that we have to make teams earn what they score. From that point they kind of took defense a little more seriously, but every game is a new game."

Owls' senior shortstop Nicole Lopez, the reigning All-Hawaii Division I Player of the Year, left in the bottom of the seventh inning of Wednesday's win at Punahou with an apparent back injury — and her team holding a five-run lead — but Inaba said she expects to play Saturday.

The Spartans (13-2-1) got by Iolani, 5-4, in the other tournament semifinal Wednesday.

Kasey Magdadaro batted 3 for 3 with three runs batted in and Labasan went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles against the Raiders. Labasan, who is 12-2 on the year and has a 1.59 earned run average, allowed four runs on seven hits Wednesday.

First pitch between Mid-Pacific and Maryknoll is set for 10 a.m.