Aiea celebrates after defeating Kalani for the OIA Division II title Tuesday night at Mckinley. CJ Caraang | SL

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Aiea celebrates after defeating Kalani for the OIA Division II title Tuesday night at Mckinley. CJ Caraang | SL

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KAKAAKO — Kalani (11-3) and Aiea (13-0) were used to winning big this year as each team averaged more than 10 runs scored per outing.

When the two teams locked up against each other in the regular season, there was no shortage of offensive power as the Na Alii bested the Falcons, 11-8.

This time with the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division II title on the line, it was instead the pitchers who took center stage Tuesday afternoon at McKinley Tiger Softball Stadium as two of state's best hurlers went at it.

Kalani's Cherise Horita and Aiea's Poamai Tuli combined for 21 total strikeouts in a fierce pitching duel of beauty, but in the end, it was the Na Alii (quite literally) squeezing out a 2-0 win to take the crown atop the OIA D2 for the second time in three years.

Sophomore pitcher Horita (88 Ks prior to the game) shutdown 10 batters on three strikes while the senior Tuli (59 Ks) added 11 punched out batters to her total — all going down swinging for both sides. At one point, eight-consecutive batters were retired with whiffs.

"[Tuli] is a gamer," Aiea coach Alan Higuchi said. "You give her the ball and she's going to give you a game. That's her M.O."

In their regular season matchup back in March, it was Chantelle Shimabukuro who got the nod in the pitching circle for Aiea. Tuli recorded a save in two innings of relief work.

"I did not anticipate that they was going to start their ace because they've never done that against us the last time," Kalani coach Kellet Hussey said. "When I saw [Tuli] up there that was respect for us."

For Horita, it was her fifth start in her young career going up against the Na Alii. She guided the Falcons to three wins in their three meetings in 2016.

"That girl is gutsy," Higuchi said. "We've seen it before. I'm not even surprised she threw a game like that."

In a game with neither pitcher seemingly ready to give an inch, it was the execution of small ball that give Aiea the edge they needed to come out victorious.

Na Alii found their opening in the bottom of the sixth inning when Shimabukuro dropped a leadoff single in front of the center fielder.

After she succeeded in stealing second, Mikelle Gonzales plopped a two-strike single again to shallow center, moving her Shimabukuro over one more base while advanced to second after the ball was thrown home.

At that point with just one out in the inning, it was Aiea's best opportunity to get on the scoreboard.

Cleanup hitter Testimoni Tavale fell two strikes down in the count, but high reward comes from high risk as she flashed a squeeze bunt for Shimabukuro to slide home safely.

Aiea gambled again on the following play with another two-strike squeeze bunt attempt — this time from Jaenah Padasdao.

Horita fielded the ball and flicked it home well before Gonzales could reach the plate, but catcher Jazlyn Furuya couldn't get a clean handle on the ball, allowing the run to score.

"That's softball. You're going to get games where it can be low scoring and you're going to have high scoring games," Higuchi said about the contrasts in the teams' two meetings this year. "I'm not going to say we expected it, but we prepared for it."

Tuli came out in the top frame of the final inning looking to put it away.

Toni-Lynn Ibara skipped a hard shot past the second baseman for a double, putting the tying run up at the plate. Ibara was able to steal third, but Tuli rang the batter up on three-straight pitches for the second out.

It was familiar territory for Tuli as last year's title game saw the Na Alii go down in the final inning after Nanakuli rallied for two runs with two outs.

Unfortunately for the Falcons, history wasn't going to repeat itself as Tuli sat Chelsie Nakamura down to end the game.

"You cannot hit one fast pitcher like that. You got to go small ball, but her riser really did us in," Hussey said. "Our best thing that we normally do is bunt, but we never bunt well. She has a fantastic riser."

It was Aiea's fourth-straight OIA Championship game appearance and its second league trophy in school history.

Both teams will have a week to prepare for the start of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association/DataHouse Division II State Championships next Wednesday.

Joining the Na Alii and Falcons from the OIA in the 12-team tournament will be Waipahu and Radford.