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Kalani Takase | ScoringLiveApril 12, 2022, 7:44am
Mon, Apr 11, 2022 @ [ 4:00 pm ]
W: Jenna Sniffen L: Madison Rabe
KSK: Mariah Antoque 1-3 2 rbi; Madison Rabe 6.0 IP 6 ERMS: Nellian McEnroe-Marinas 2-3 2 runs rbi dbl HR; Jenna Sniffen 7.0 IP 3 ER 3 K
KAPALAMA HEIGHTS — For three-plus innings, No. 7 Maryknoll and No. 5 Kamehameha were engaged in a pitcher's duel.
And then the Spartans' bats took over.
Carys Murakami batted 3 for 4 and swatted one of Maryknoll's three home runs in a 9-3 win over host Kamehameha in an Interscholastic League of Honolulu Division I softball game Monday afternoon.
The Spartans (5-3) recorded their fourth straight win to pull even with the Warriors (5-3) after the first round of ILH play.
"It was a really good team win," said Murakami, a senior second baseman. "I think that everyone contributed and we played as a team, made our adjustments and got the win."
Murakami accounted for three runs batted in from the top of the order. After grounding out in her first at-bat to open the game, the CSUN-commit sandwiched a couple of singles around a two-run homer that was part of a three-run fifth-inning for Maryknoll.
"I was just trying to get on base for my team today and anything to help them to be able to get on base, not pop up and get the win," she said.
The Spartans got a couple of hits through the first three innings, but were unable to push across any runs against Warriors starting pitcher Madison Rabe, who kept hitters off-balance with a combination of movement and velocity.
"Obviously a lot of us were swinging at a lot of high pitches, so we knew that we had to look down and just wait for the ball to come in a little bit more and then our approach is always line drives, so that's always what we work for," said Maryknoll clean-up hitter and pitcher Jenna Sniffen.
Sniffen did not surrender a hit until Colby McClinton's one-out single in the bottom of the fifth inning. She did, however, have to deal with seven Kamehameha baserunners — a result of five walks and two hit batsmen — through the first four innings, though none of them scored.
Sherreigh "Ua" Nakoa-Chung provided just the boost that Sniffen needed with her two-out solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. Nakoa-Chung worked the count full off of Rabe, before she belted the seventh pitch of the at-bat deep over the fence in left-center.
"That was a bomb," Murakami said of Nakoa-Chung's second homer in as many games. "She worked the count and had a great at-bat, so I was proud of her when she got her pitch and sent it over the fence."
Sniffen was most appreciative of the help.
"As a pitcher it's always a really good feeling to have some comfort and run support and it made me feel like I could relax more into the game and settle in and just pitch my game," she said.
After Sniffen got three ground-ball outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Spartans cranked a couple more dingers in the next half-inning. Murakami brought in Jacie Hayato-Ano with her fifth home run of the season on the first pitch of the AB from Rabe.
"I saw outside and I just was looking fastball," Murakami explained.
Two batters later, Nellian McEnroe-Marinas collected her second extra-base hit of the game with a two-out solo shot on a frozen rope over the centerfield fence.
"I think that we did a great job adjusting. Madi (Rabe) was pitching really well and we made the adjustments to be able to get our pitch and hit it, a line drive," Murakami said.
The Warriors sent nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth to answer with three runs. Mariah Antoque knocked in a pair with her looping single into short center before Kaylee Matsuda's two-out RBI-single down the line in right plated another run to cut the Maryknoll lead to 4-3.
But the Spartans' bats were unrelenting.
Chloe Chun and Murakami drove in two more runs with their RBI-singles in the sixth inning and Maryknoll added three more insurance runs — all of them unearned — in the seventh.
Sniffen logged her third complete-game win of the season to improve to 4-1 in the circle. She surrendered four hits, struck out three batters and overcame a half-dozen walks.
"I think that she did a great job," Murakami said of the sophomore. "Even though she had a few walks, but we always bounce back and she always comes back stronger so that helps our defense and she did a great job on the mound today."
On two occasions Sniffen escaped a bases-loaded jam to end an inning. She stranded 13 Kamehameha baserunners in all.
"We told her to go after it and we have her back on defense, so for her to be able to get out of those innings was big for us," Murakami added.
Rabe allowed eight runs, six of them earned, on eight hits over six-plus innings of work. She walked five batters and struck out one and fell to 5-3 on the year.
It was the second loss in three days for Kamehameha, which was coming off of a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Iolani Saturday.
By virtue of the Warriors' loss to the Spartans Monday, the Raiders (6-2) secured the ILH first-round title and one of the league's two berths in next month's state tournament. The second berth will be determined through the second round (double-elimination tournament), which gets underway next Monday.
Maryknoll will host Kamehameha Wednesday, 4 p.m. at Sand Island State Recreation Area in a playoff game for second place in ILH first round and the No. 2 seed in the second round.
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