HONOLULU — The Kamehameha softball team swore it was not trying to clear the fence at McKinley’s field on Wednesday night.
That came about anyway – three times – as a result of focusing on solid contact as the Warriors surged to a 10-3 victory over Maryknoll to remain unbeaten in Interscholastic League of Honolulu play.
Second baseman Nevaeh Telles, shortstop Colby McClinton and third baseman Rylee Gaudia went yard as Kamehameha (3-0 ILH) compiled 12 hits and maintained its double-digit scoring average.
“We’re not trying to yank the ball out of the park. That’s not our approach,” said Telles, a junior who went 2-for-4 with four RBIs and three runs scored in the No. 2 slot. “We’re just going up there and hitting our pitch and trying to just barrel up the ball and hit it hard so that we can get on base. We trust that our teammates coming up to the box are going to score us.”
Leadoff batter Haley Agena, the center fielder, reached base four times and scored thrice.
The Warriors got to Spartans starter Sherreigh Nakoa-Chung in the third and fourth innings, tagging her for seven hits and seven runs when she was pulled. Reliever Jennalyn Sniffen got out of the fourth without further damage thanks to a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded, but the Warriors tacked on three more runs in the fifth in part due to a throwing error to first by catcher Haylee Cathcart in another bases-loaded situation.
Senior right-hander Madison Rabe went the distance, giving up five hits and three walks while striking out five.
“Madi’s a workhorse. Madi loves the ball, she wants the ball,” Warriors coach Mark Lyman said. “She wants to be out there all the time. … She competed out here today, competed hard. It was great to see her out there in her element finding ways to get it done.”
Rabe settled in once Maryknoll shortstop Nellian McEnroe-Marinas swatted a two-run homer to straightaway center to cut the Kamehameha lead to 3-2 in the third. From there, she kept the damage to a sacrifice fly RBI by Cathcart in the fourth when Kylee Matsuda made a nice catch at the leftfield fence.
“I was very confident. I had all my sisters to back me up, and the coaching staff was very supportive,” Rabe said.
Maryknoll (1-3) was coming off an 18-3 win in a mercy rule-shortened game against Mid-Pacific. The swing in fortunes at the plate from a week prior was jarring for coach John Uekawa.
“They came to play. There’s no doubt,” Uekawa said of Kamehameha. “You gotta give them big kudos for how they played today. We came here as a team trying not to lose rather than trying to win the game.
“We have so much talent, but it’s not being put forth. Kamehameha played a damn good game, but at the same time we gave them the game. That’s my personal opinion," Uekawa continued. "During the most critical times, we made the most mistakes. They bunched hits and we did fundamentally wrong things, and they scored, two, three, four runs in an inning.”
Kamehameha hosts Iolani at 4 p.m. Friday in a matchup of the top two teams in the state, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s latest rankings. Maryknoll, the Star-Advertiser's former No. 1 now ranked No. 5, plays at No. 4 Punahou at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.