Mililani holds off Campbell, 4-2, to stay atop OIA West
By Wes Nakama
Playing the long game early -- and then the short one late, Mililani held off arch rival Campbell, 4-2, Friday night to stay atop the OIA Western Division softball standings.
The victory at McKinley's Tiger Stadium improved the Trojans to 4-0 in the regular season, one game ahead of Kapolei (3-1), while Campbell fell to 3-2.
Mililani ace Hinano Bautista helped her own cause by blasting an 0-1 pitch over the fence in right-center field for a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the first inning, then shortstop Kahiau Aina slammed a 1-2 offering over the center field barrier to make it 2-0 with one out in the third.
The Sabers tied it in the fifth after Kaienna Fuentes-Arellano launched a two-run homer over the fence in left field. But in the sixth, Aubri Nakashima reached on a one-out single to right and moved up to second base on Lana Nakayama's bunt single. After both runners advanced on a wild pitch, Kaylie Kihara produced a single to left field, scoring both runs to make it 4-2.
"That's what we like to do as a team, manufacture runs," Trojans coach Rose Antonio said. "Get in scoring position, and score those runs. Kaylie had a great at-bat, took it to three balls and two strikes, and she got a base hit, scored two runs. What (else) can you ask for."
Bautista, who pitched a five-hitter with two walks, then set down the Sabers in order with a self-assist to first, lineout to second and her lone strikeout swinging.
"It definitely did feel like a playoff game, the feelings, the jitters all came back at the beginning," Bautista said. "But I knew I just had to calm myself down, knowing that my team got me, and they did the job very well. It was awesome knowing that Kaylie came in clutch for the team, bringing in those two runs. But we knew when we got back on 'D,' I had to hold it down, focus and making my defense work and letting them get the ball and letting them play."
Nakayama went 3-for-3 with one run scored, and Fuentes-Arellano led her own offense by going 2-for-3 with the home run, double and two RBIs.
Antonio said this second meeting between the teams had a different script compared to the OIA season opener which Mililani won, 10-8, at Campbell.
"This one was a lot different, on their side (Fuentes-Arellano) pitched a great game, too," Antonio said. "Everybody's getting better as the season progresses, you're going to see that. Everybody's going to play good defense, hit the ball hard, score runs ... that's what you're going to see. We needed to take care of the ball and play defense. We just want to feed our defense and make them make the plays. (Campbell) is a great team, great program. We have great games against each other."