Punahou senior Bailey Akimseu rounds third after slamming a three-run home run. Spencer Honda | SL

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Punahou's Maya Matsubara (right) meets Iolani catcher Kai Barrett (left) at home plate in the sixth inning. The play was ruled obstruction, giving the Buffanblu the go-ahead run. Spencer Honda | SL

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KAPIOLANI — After sinking into a 3-0 hole early on, Punahou battled back with Iolani to tie it up at four runs at the end five innings before Buffanblu starting pitcher Bailey Akimseu opened up the lead with a three-run opposite-field slam to help her squad outlast the Raiders, 8-6, in a Saturday afternoon Interscholastic League of Honolulu matchup at Iolani School.

Both teams entered their second league game of the year after having dropped their respective season openers — Iolani (0-2) fell, 5-4, to Mid-Pacific in a last-inning nail-biter, and Punahou (1-1) with a 17-7 mercy-rule loss to Kamehameha.

"I think after the first game, our motivation skyrocketed," Akimseu said, who lasted just one inning on Wednesday, having given up four runs on three hits to the Warriors. "We gave it our all today. Even though our batting came out a little flat in the beginning, we got our rally and we did good."

The senior pitcher returns as the Buffanblu's No. 1 pitching option and again got the nod to start in Saturday's game against Iolani.

"Bailey's the girl that's going to take us where we need to go," first-year Punahou coach David Eldredge said. "She just got to get better a little at a time, and she is. Plus it makes us better defensively because it allows Kennedy (Ishii) to stay at shortstop."

With the game even at four runs after five complete innings, the tension and drama arose as Punahou's Maya Matsubara led off the top of the sixth by reaching base after Raiders shortstop Rylee Nishimoto mishandled a grounder. Kennedy Ishii followed with a successful bunt attempt to get on, but Iolani coaches alleged it should had been called a foul ball.

D'Asha Saiki followed and tapped a dribbler in front of the plate but catcher Kai Barrett threw it into right field. Matsubara rounded third and came up short in her slide into home plate and was seemingly tagged out, but the umpire ruled obstruction and awarded Punahou a run as Barrett did not have possession of the ball when Matsubara slid into her.

"It was clearly a foul ball. Why the umpire missed it? It happens. Even the play at the plate: our catcher is playing the ball. She's in front of the plate. (Matsubara) is sliding into our catcher," Iolani coach Dean Yonamine said of the controversial calls.

But Yonamine did give credit to the Buffanblu for what happened next, as Akimseu helped her own cause and flashed "oppo power" by sending an 0-2 pitch over the right-field fence for a three-run home run to go up 8-4.

"I know I'm helping out my team and they're helping me out on defense. The least I can do is try to get some runs on the board, which I did. I'm pretty proud of that," Akimseu said.

Punahou's Maya Matsubara (right) meets Iolani catcher Kai Barrett (left) at home plate in the sixth inning. The play was ruled obstruction, giving the Buffanblu the go-ahead run. Spencer Honda | SL    Purchase image

However, Akimseu gave up back-to-back walks to start the bottom frame of the sixth to bring her total to seven for the afternoon, prompting a pitching change with starting shortstop Ishii going into the circle.

"You're up four runs in late innings, you just got to throw strikes. So when we get, ‘walk, walk,' we need them to beat us. We can't beat ourselves," Eldredge said.

On the next at bat, Nishimoto bunted up the middle, and perhaps the being in a position threw Ishii off as she threw the ball it into right field, allowing pinch runner Nikye Makishima to score.

Ishii fanned the next batter and followed by beautifully snagging a comebacker from Aleia Agbayani, but her throw attempt to double up the runner at second base was just a little wide and squirted off to the outfield to bring courtesy runner Jenna Morikuni in for another run. But Ishii bore down to induce a fly out and then three quick outs an inning later to end the game and earn a save.

"It's great to have backup. I know I can trust my girls and they can trust me on defense and on offense," Akimseu said of having returning pitchers Ishii and Briahni Alejo. "If you don't have trust, then you don't have a team."

Akimseu earned the W in the circle, finishing with just four hits given up, three earned runs and three strikeouts.

On the other side, Marley Dyer recorded the loss, going six innings while allowing nine hits, seven earned runs, four walks and striking out three batters. Agbayani came in for relief in the top of the seventh to go three up, three down.

The Raiders will look to get win No. 1 next Wednesday against PAC-5 (0-2).

"We're still trying to figure things out and get through a little bit of the jitters at times when the pressure is on and gets tight," Yonamine said of his squad who lost seven of last year's starters to graduation. "But we're making progress. It's a long season like I told the girls. We just got to keep working hard."