ILH Softball
Spartans bounce back against Warriors to claim state berth


Kalani Takase | ScoringLive
April 15, 2026, 10:04pm

  

Wed, Apr 15, 2026 @ [ 3:30 pm ]

Kamehameha

2

Maryknoll

4

FINAL 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Kamehameha 0 100100241
Maryknoll 0 0 0400X464

W: Molly Davi    L: Peahi Grilho

MS: Sheyzhelle Iokia 2-3 run 4 rbi HR; Molly Davi 7.0 IP 0 ER
KSK: Anela Pau 1-3 run dbl; Peahi Grilho 6.0 IP 4 ER 4 K




SAND ISLAND — Sheyzhelle Iokia and Molly Davi played key roles in a crucial bounce-back win for the Maryknoll softball team Wednesday. 

Iokia smacked a fourth-inning grand slam to back Davi's four-hit complete game to lift No. 2 Maryknoll to a 4-2 win over No. 3 Kamehameha in both teams' penultimate game of the Interscholastic League of Honolulu first round.

Two days after the Warriors (11-2) handed the Spartans (12-1) their first loss of the year, Maryknoll returned the favor on an overcast afternoon at Sand Island State Recreation Area. 

The result gives the Spartans the ILH first-round title, which comes with one of the league's two berths in next month's HHSAA Division I state tournament. The Warriors' hopes to punch their ticket to states remains alive via the league's second round (double-elimination tournament). 

"It feels good. It's a relief to get it and I'm super excited," said Davi, a junior right-handed pitcher.

Davi, a junior right-handed pitcher, was instrumental in keeping Kamehameha's bats — which tallied eight runs on 11 hits against her on Monday — largely at bay. 

Davi, who was 8-0 with a sub-2.0 earned run average prior to Monday, returned to form Wednesday. She registered just one strike out — the fewest she's had all year — but scattered four hits and did not issue a single walk. Both runs the Warriors scored were unearned. 

"Molly has this hidden drive that sometimes people recognize or she accentuates herself," Maryknoll coach John Uekawa said. "Pitchers have to have that killer instinct — if they don't, they cannot be champions — she has that in her."

Davi used the day between games to tweak her approach against the Warriors, who entered the game averaging better than 13 runs a contest. They had scored no fewer than seven runs in a single game prior to Wednesday. 

"I think my mindset coming into this was being more aggressive and working away from the plate and really spinning it and keeping the batters off balance. I'd say that's what I came in today with and that was the difference maker," Davi said. 

Davi threw 57 of her 87 total pitches for strikes. She overcame four errors from her defense to improve to 9-1 on the year with a 2.01 ERA. 

"She pitched really great today. At practice (Tuesday) she worked on moving the ball, spinning it and making something happen for our team and it really helped us today," said Iokia, a junior third baseman. 

Davi was especially effectively on the outer half of the plate. She faced 28 batters and got to a three-ball count just thrice. Of the five Warriors she left stranded on base, three of them were in scoring position.

"For me, I was looking at where the batters were and they weren't up on the plate, so I had the outside corner and then (the home plate umpire) was giving me it so that played in a lot," Davi said. 

Iokia provided all of the run support Davi needed with one swing in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

It was Kyla Abad, the ninth batter in the Spartans' lineup, who got things started with a two-out single to center. Reyni Hiraoka then singled before Palehua Silva drew a walk to load the bases for Iokia. 

Iokia quickly fell behind in the count 0-2, but worked it back to 2-2 before she turned on an inside pitch from Kamehameha pitcher Peahi Grilho that carried over fence in left field — much to Iokia's surprise. 

"I popped up a change-up in my first at-bat and so I was thinking that they were pitching me out, but the pitch came in and high and I was like, ‘this is my pitch,' and I seen it fly and I thought it was gonna be a pop fly, but my teammates were already screaming at me," Iokia said. 

It was Iokia's seventh dinger on the year. She has also driven in a team-high 30 runs, but it was a bit of an inauspicious start to the game for her Wednesday. 

Iokia committed a pair of throwing errors through the first four innings, the first of which allowed Kamehameha to score its first run of the contest in the top of the second inning. The Spartans committed four errors in all. 

"She was clutch," Davi said of Iokia. "She's like, ‘I have your back every time,' and she always does, so I wasn't worried at all."

After Iokia put her team ahead in the bottom of the fourth, the Warriors got one run back in the top of the fifth. Hayden Dumlao laced a one-out double down the left field line and eventually came around to score on an error, but Davi set down the final six batters she faced to close out the win. 

"Today I really came in thinking to leave it out on the field and to play for the Lord because the outcome's already determined, so that was my goal today was playing for an audience of one, I would say," Davi said. 

Uekawa was pleased to say the least to see his squad rebound from Monday's defeat at the Kapalama campus. 

"The girls stepped up and with that said, basically we knew we were up against a tough match. Mano a mano, they're just about the same as us. It was just a matter of who wanted it more in the end and Shey had just one swing and yeah," Uekawa said. 

Hiraoka batted 3 for 3 with a walk and Silva drew a pair of walks for the Spartans. 

Anela Pau doubled and scored a run for the Warriors. 

Grilho allowed six hits with five walks and struck out four in the loss. She fell to 3-1 on the year with a 4.36 ERA. 

Maryknoll closes out the first round against PAC-5 Thursday at Sand Island, while Kamehameha will take on Iolani Friday at Ala Wai Community Park. 

The ILH double-elimination tournament begins Monday. 


Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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