Mililani players celebrate after Kylie Ann Bello's walk-off RBI single to lift the Trojans over Kapolei. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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MANOA - The happiest of Trojans was in tears after defending champion and top-seeded Mililani scraped by Kapolei, 10-9, to advance to Thursday's semifinals of the DataHouse Division I state softball tournament.

The Trojans scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, completing the rally from a 9-4 deficit after four innings in the quarterfinals at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

No. 3 Mililani will face No. 2 Maryknoll in the 7 p.m. semifinal.

On a night when All-Hawaii pitcher Aubree Kim labored in the circle, her teammates picked her up with a 16-hit attack and cashed in on seven Hurricane errors. She was appreciative of their effort.

"I just love them so much," said Kim, in tears of happiness. "I was like at my lowest point and they come back. They always have my back and pick me up. I just love them so much. I'm so proud of all of them."

It was Kim's second-worst outing of the season; she gave up 10 runs in a loss to Campbell during the regular season. Kapolei tagged Kim for nine runs, seven earned and seven hits in seven innings. She served up two home runs, a two-run shot to left by Laugatasaia Pedebone in a four-run third and a grand slam by her counterpart, pitcher Sadie Kapaku-You, in a five-run fourth.

"It is a lot of emotion," Mililani coach Rose Antonio said of the comeback. "What can I say? We're down five runs and the kids never gave up…The kids showed character and you know what? They did their best."

In the bottom of the seventh, Shannon Pascua-Stanton led off with a single and pinch runner Maya Saneishi took second when Markie Okamoto walked; Okamoto was lifted for courtesy runner Tracie Okumura. Keri Togami culminated an 11-pitch at-bat with an RBI single that sent Okumura to second. Maya Yoshiura flied out to left, but an error allowed the tying run to score and sent the other runner to third. Kylie-Ann Bello delivered the game-winning single to end the game

The Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Kapaku-You before the Hurricanes scored four in the third. Mililani tied it with a pair in the bottom of the third, only to see the Hurricanes plate five in the fourth with the big bomb from Kapaku-You's slam.

But the Trojans were able to chip away at their deficit with one in the fifth and two in the sixth. The two runs in the sixth came with two out when two batters reached on errors and were cashed in on Merilis Rivera's two-run single. She finished 2 for 4 with four RBI.

It was a tough loss for the Hurricane, who had lost to the Trojans by scores of 11-4 and 11-0 during the regular season.

"We weren't expected to be in a position like this, but like I told the kids early part of the week, ‘We're here,'" Kapolei coach Tony Saffery said. "‘So everything forward is a bonus.' We definitely had a rocky season from the start, so getting here at this point…I think our spirits were in the right place. We just couldn't finish."

The Hurricanes scored nine against one of the best pitchers in the state.

"I was blown away," Saffery said. "But holding on to it, I think that's what pressured the kids. I told the kids, everything here on is a bonus. Beating Mililani would've been another bonus. That's just the way the ball bounces. The errors hurt us pretty big."

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