Kaiser and Roosevelt will duke it out for the East's top seed in the D1 softball playoffs. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The Kaiser infield commits an error in a 6-4 loss to Castle Thursday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL

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The Roosevelt softball team has bounced back nicely since its first loss of the season.

After dropping a 6-4 contest to Kaiser on March 20, the Rough Riders have won five straight contests in dominating fashion. Three of their wins in this stretch have been five-inning mercy-rule victories while the other two were a pair of 8-0 shutouts.

"We told them that they just have to put (the loss) behind them and they have to learn from their mistakes," Roosevelt coach Kris Fujii-Dias said on the message to her team after its first loss of the year.

"We made some errors when we played them the first round and Kaiser just capitalized. We just need to minimize mistakes, grow mentally and keep refocusing and working towards the next time we face them."

Based on their winning streak, it's safe to say that the Rough Riders are ready to go when they face the Cougars in the rematch this weekend.

The East's top seed in the Oahu Interscholastic Association Division I playoffs is up for grabs when Roosevelt (10-1) and Kaiser (9-2) face off Saturday night at McKinley's Tiger Softball Stadium in both team's regular season finale.

With the game having more meaning than the first meeting between the two teams, the Rough Riders are trying to stay loose heading into the matchup.

"We're just treating it as another game," said Fujii-Dias. "I don't know if (the girls) realize that it does dictate who is No. 1. We're not trying to add more pressure. We just want them to have fun and let them play like they know how."

While Roosevelt is in good spirits, Kaiser hasn't been doing so well lately.

The Kaiser infield commits an error in a 6-4 loss to Castle Thursday night. Greg Yamamoto | SL    Purchase image

The Cougars are looking to redeem themselves after a 6-4 loss to Castle on Thursday. By coach Mitch Matsumoto's estimation, Kaiser committed a season-high nine errors against Knights.

"I know everyone is taking it real hard," he said. "We played bad. Hopefully a different team shows up on Saturday."

For Kaiser, the team has performed as well as junior pitcher Primrose Aholelei does in the circle. The strong hurler leads all Division I pitchers with 70 strikeouts this season, and is a big reason why the Cougars were able to win their first seven games of the year.

When she doesn't have her best stuff however, things don't go well.

Matsumoto said Aholelei's arm was "kind of tired" during the team's loss to the Knights. The last time this happened was in Kaiser's first loss of the season, a 11-0 mercy-rule loss to Moanalua on March 29.

"We live and die by her," said Matsumoto. "For some reason, when she's off, the rest of the team is off. When she's on, everybody is on. She's more of a leader in that aspect."

With a key game coming up, Matsumoto said he is even considering turning to senior Christiana Aholelei in the circle if his ace's arm isn't ready on Saturday.

"Prim throws faster, but Christiana has a better changeup. Against Roosevelt, I think that's something because Roosevelt hits so well. If we have someone that can throw off speed, get them to pop up or swing and miss, that's something that I'm thinking about now."

First pitch is slated for 5:00 p.m.