HONOLULU — Kapolei overcame the elements to lay emphatic claim to status as the best team in the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
In the first OIA softball championship game in three years, the Hurricanes were poised amid intermittent wind and rain and a three-hour delayed start time to defeat West Division rival Mililani 5-0 at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Saturday night.
Ace Jerzie Liana tossed a three-hitter and left fielder Moani Ioane launched a line-drive home run in the fifth inning to help seal the outcome and make a case to have the interim tag removed from coach Enson Queypo’s title.
Queypo took over in the fourth game of the season for head coach Keoke Behic, who had to step away. He tried to maintain the team’s routines from the time he spent with Behic over the last six years.
“It’s been a learning experience for sure for me, because I didn’t expect to be the person in charge at this time,” Queypo said. “But I’ve been around the program long enough to know the principles and the things we do at the school.”
That tradition has involved a lot of winning for the Hurricanes’ softball program, which earned its fourth OIA title and first since 2016.
The teams’ expected first-pitch time got pushed back about three hours, to around 10 p.m., when the Division II championship between Waipahu and Nanakuli went long due to a combination of rain delays, offense and pace of play. The Marauders rallied from an eight-run deficit to score 15 unanswered to win 21-14, setting a OIA D-II title game record for combined runs.
Kapolei listened to the radio and played with phone apps to stay loose.
“You know, it was really long. We were very antsy,” said Ioane, who was 2-for-4 and drove in three. “I think what kept us going was our focus and we knew we wanted to win, so we were determined to do a job.”
Mililani (11-2) hadn’t lost since a 10-8 setback to Kapolei (11-2) to begin the OIA season. The Trojans’ 11-game winning streak was in jeopardy early when the Hurricanes pushed across two runs in the first inning, aided by three Trojan errors.
In large part due to five defensive miscues, only two of the five runs charged to Trojans starter Ashley Ogata were earned.
It was a reversal of the teams’ last meeting on April 8, won 2-1 by Mililani in part due to some mistakes by Kapolei. The Trojans were shut out for the first time in the season.
“Our dugout was definitely much louder (this time),” said Liana, who struck out five and walked one. “The last (meeting) we only lost by one and it really fueled our fire to come back and win.”
Liana allowed only one baserunner to reach second, in the second inning, and she was perfect in the last three innings.
She also worked the Hurricanes’ playoff wins the previous two days over Waianae and Campbell to reach the championship game.
“To me, she’s the best pitcher in the state, hands down, and I think she proved that through the last three days,” Queypo said. “She deserves everything that she gets because she’s a hard worker.”
Ioane’s homer cleared the wall in left-center by inches. The junior joked afterward she needed to hit the weight room.
Playing at RWSS in the first softball season of her high school career — the last two years were wiped out due to the pandemic — was special for her. It was especially so after her idol, Hawaii native and Oklahoma softball star Jocelyn Alo broke the NCAA career home run record in the same park on March 11.
“Oh my God, it was unreal,” Ioane said. “Growing up and watching colleges and stuff over here, it was just crazy. And now that I’m here, it’s more realistic and I believe I can do anything now.”
Kapolei first baseman Ena Alewa added an RBI double in the fifth.
The state tournament begins May 9.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.