By Wes Nakama

Picking up pretty much where it left off last year, defending softball state champion Mililani powered past Campbell, 13-5, in the teams’ OIA Western Division softball opener Tuesday night.

A light crowd of about 100 at McKinley’s Tiger Stadium and a statewide TV audience on Spectrum OC16 Sports watched sophomore pitcher Hinano Bautista scatter nine hits in a complete-game effort and go 3-for-4 with two home runs and a double with four runs batted in to lead an explosive Trojans offense. Nanea Pantastico went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and Kaienna Fuentes-Arellano went 2-for-3 for the Sabers, who lost to Mililani in last year’s state semifinals.

If anything, the Trojans look even more explosive this season, after pounding out 15 hits Tuesday night, including four home runs and five doubles.

“Hitting, putting the ball in play, and we have speed this year,” Mililani coach Rose Antonio said of this team’s offense. “Different weapons from last year. We were a power hitting team last year.”

The Trojans showed some of that power again early Tuesday night, as Bautista led off the top of the second inning with a line shot solo home run over the fence in right-center field for a 1-0 lead. Kamryn Aoki’s two-out, opposite-field two-run single to left later put Mililani up, 3-0.

The Sabers responded in the bottom of the second with RBI singles from Sophie Alo and Pantastico to cut the lead to 3-2, but the Trojans exploded for five runs in the top of the third, highlighted by Bautista’s two-run homer and Kahiau Aina’s towering two-out, three-run oppo blast over the left field fence to make it 8-2.

Mililani made it 9-2 in the fourth on Emma Parker’s sacrifice fly to right field, and then 11-2 in the fifth on Kodie Ancheta’s two-run blast just inside the right field foul pole. The teams traded single runs over the next five half-frames, and Bautista maintained the big lead despite finishing with eight walks and only one strikeout.

“For me, it was a little struggle today,” Bautista said. “My spots weren’t really hitting. But I tried moving through and seeing what pitches were better for me.”

Bautista also benefited from a solid defense that produced two double plays.

“I’d like to shout out to my team and my coaching staff,” Bautista said. “It feels good to have a big (win) like this. But mostly, we gotta keep working, work on everything, work on all our weaknesses so we can improve.”

Antonio agreed.

“It’s good, but it wasn’t the best game we can play,” Antonio said. “I think we have some stuff to work on. And we’ll get better.”

Photos: @shotbykela