HONOLULU — Chicken fingers.
As a method to reduce the madness of a packed stadium and the pressure of the moment as Maryknoll sought its first state softball title against Iolani on Thursday, assistant coach Keiki Carlos came up with a tasty idea.
“She told us to look out at the Raising Cane’s sign (in the outfield), and just think, ‘chicken fingers,’” said Spartans shortstop Nellian McEnroe-Marinas. “So that’s what we did, and it worked.”
Maryknoll’s wait for its first championship in the sport came to an end as the Spartans defeated its Interscholastic League of Honolulu nemesis and the defending state champion Raiders, 5-2, when it mattered most at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“It’s a dream come true,” 16-year head coach John Uekawa said after his ace Jenna Sniffen tossed a three-hitter and hit the go-ahead home run to boot.
The sixth meeting on the season between the familiar foes swung on Maryknoll’s aggression and power at the outset. Maryknoll’s runs came on two long-ball swings: three from Sniffen in the first, and two from McEnroe-Marinas in the fifth.
Sniffen, who started four games in four days, was named tournament Most Outstanding Player. She struck out 10 Raiders and walked four.
Maryknoll (12-5) got off to a 1-3 start to ILH play back in March, looking at times out of sorts. Then it went on a seven-game winning streak to challenge Iolani (12-4) for the ILH title which ultimately went to the Raiders.
“I feel like we needed to put the pieces together and work as a team to get to where we needed to go, which was to be here today and win it all,” Sniffen said.
Maryknoll, making its first ever state finals appearance, jumped out fast against the Raiders as second baseman Carys Murakami doubled to lead off the game against Allie Capello. After an out, McEnroe-Marinas was hit by a pitch and Sniffen cranked a shot to dead center within a matter of minutes.
Murakami, a senior who will return to RWSS as a member of the Cal State Northridge softball team starting next season, said the team dedicated the win to those who couldn’t be there Thursday. That group that included Spartan seniors from the last two years who didn’t get to compete in state tournaments due to COVID cancelations. It also included the late nephew of McEnroe-Marinas, Xavier, who recently died at four months old. The team wore stickers of him on its helmets in his honor.
“It felt great knowing that I had sisters by my side helping me, supporting me through all of this, keeping me in check,” McEnroe-Marinas said. “Dedicating the rest of this season to him, it was a great feeling knowing I had their support.”
Iolani appeared poised to rally at a few points. Two-way standout Ailana Agbayani cranked a two-run homer in the third and the Raiders had a few more chances to plate runs.
With a runner on third in the bottom of the fifth, Sniffen elicited a swing-and-miss from Agbayani to complete a strikeout of the side as the Spartan fans along the first-base line erupted.
The Raiders’ last gasp was pressure-packed for both sides as Iolani got its first two runners on in the bottom of the seventh before Sniffen struck out the next two batters. Once again, that brought up Agbayani, the Raiders’ most formidable hitter.
Uekawa nearly elected to intentionally walk the dangerous lefty instead of risking a tying home run.
“You gotta make decisions within 10, 15 seconds, and I said, ‘you know what, pitch to her, but don’t pitch her anything good,’” Uekawa said. “So, we went outside, outside, and because she struck out the time before that, I was thinking that she really wanted to put something in play. She was trying her hardest to do something. So, it’s a mental thing we worked on that worked out to our advantage on that particular situation.”
Sniffen got Agbayani swinging to strike out the side, and the wild celebration was on. Spartan fans made the first-base bleachers shake and assistant coaches deliriously hugged the trophy while lying in the infield dirt.
Sniffen was on fumes by the finish, unable to throw a ball overhanded from Day 2 of the tournament. She was on a 100-pitch limit and Uekawa thought about pulling her after four innings Thursday.
“I’m not going to lie, my arm, I felt a little bit of fatigue and tiredness, but to me to be able to be here, I needed to push through and do everything I could to stay healthy and be here for my team,” Sniffen said.
Uekawa said of his strong-willed ace, “I could take the ball from her hand, and she would tell me to give it back.”
Murakami, the second baseman, said, “She really wanted it and we backed her up as an offense and as a defense.”
Uekawa was used to absorbing five-inning, double-digit mercy losses aplenty to the traditional ILH powers his first several years coaching. But he felt fortunes changed for his program about eight years ago, when Shearyna Labasan rose to prominence as the team’s ace and was named Gatorade Player of the Year in 2015.
“We had more people interested in coming to a smaller school with good education,” Uekawa said. “Wanting to compete with the bigger schools. ILH, bar none, there’s no tougher (league). I could be totally wrong, but every game is tough. I think that kind of got us routinely to where we are now.”
Uekawa felt that last year’s team, with six outgoing seniors, could’ve similarly competed for a state title had there been a tournament. This year's group got stronger as it went in states after an 11-6 opening-round win over Leilehua, holding the champions of the MIL, OIA and ILH to two runs apiece in succession.
Maryknoll should be competitive going forward, with Sniffen and the University of Oklahoma-bound McEnroe-Marinas coming back for their senior seasons in 2023.
For Iolani, it was a tough end to an ILH championship season that involved plenty of reconstruction after 2019’s state title team. Coach Benny Agbayani had two of his daughters experience glory that year.
Ailana Agbayani, who got the win over Mililani in the semifinals with five innings of relief, was brought in in the second inning Thursday after Capello’s struggles in the first.
Agbayani did not outwardly do any second-guessing for not starting his BYU-bound daughter.
“We stuck with our plan and we just rode with it,” the former MLB player said. “Allie and Ailana, they have the most experience on the team of playing in the state tournament and you know, it was a battle. They went out there and competed. We just came up short.”
Agbayani got slightly choked up when he was asked about coaching his daughters, Aleia and Ailana, over the last handful of years.
“It means a lot to me. Just coaching them, seeing them grow,” he said. “It’s hard, but one thing they do best is they listen. That’s one thing good about them. They train hard, they work hard, and they listen to their mom and dad. And you can’t take that away from them.”
The previous first-time Division I state softball winner was Leilehua in 2018.
Meanwhile, in Division II softball action at Patsy Mink Field on Maui, Kauai Interscholastic Federation runner-up Waimea stunned top seed Hawaii Prep 11-1 in Thursday’s quarterfinals. It set up a semifinal Friday with fourth-seeded Pac-Five of the ILH.
In the other semifinal, KIF champion Kapaa takes on Oahu Interscholastic Association champ Waipahu.
Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii.