KEAAU — There will be misty memories for the Kamehameha High School softball team from Saturday’s Game 2 of the BIIF softball finals against Kohala, and it won’t all be connected to the heavy clouds that dripped on the field intermittently throughout the game.
“Oh my God, it’s just starting to hit me, right now,” said Warriors senior catcher Kekai Wong Yuen after the 17-1, four inning mercy rule rout of the Cowgirls that gave Kamehameha its fifth consecutive BIIF Division II championship. “People were talking this morning about this being our last game on our field and I hadn’t even thought about that until now.
“It’s been great,” she said, “and while you’re excited about college and everything, you feel sad that you can’t play here anymore.”
Wong Yuen is one of five seniors who will guide the 20-0 Warriors in the HHSAA tournament in two weeks on Maui. Kohala (13-7) will also lose five seniors, but only two were regular starters this year.
“They gave me all they had today,” said Kohala coach Nathan Kekoa, “but this a very young team and I think it had more to do with a lack of confidence and a big case of nerves that go to them, but they will learn from this, it will make us a better team.”
Kekoa decided to start sophomore Symphony Kauanoe in Saturday’s game and his hunch that nerves played a role in the game might have been prompted by her first inning when Kauanoe delivered eight straight pitches out of the strike zone to put two batters on base with no outs.
Wong Yuen stepped in and doubled in a run, then senior pitcher Mykala Tokunaga smack a hard single to left-center field that scored two more and she eventually scored on a single by Jessica Cameros.
Kamehameha sent 10 batters to the plate in the second inning, scoring eight runs on five hits, including an inside-the-park home run by Wong Yuen that split the gap between center and right field that managed to skip all the way to the fence.
“I hit it well but I thought they would get to it,” Wong Yuen said, “but then I looked up and my coach was waving me around, so I sort of put my head down and adrenaline took over at that point.”
It was Wong Yuen’s second inside-the-park home run this season and her last game at Kamehameha finished with her hitting a home run, double and single, plus a walk, scoring three runs and driving in three more.
She is in a mental wrestling match with the sport, because she is headed to Colorado College with a chance to play soccer, but not softball. The school, located in Colorado Springs, does not participate in softball.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” Wong Yuen said, “this has been so much fun.”
Several of her teammates joined in the run production Saturday, none more prominently than freshman Kuulei Ili who doubled, singled, scored twice and also collected three runs batted in.
“These girls worked really hard all season, these teams pushed us,” said Kamehameha assistant coach Akea Kiyuna, “our girls just kept working, trying to get better day after day and it has paid off for them.”
Now they take two weeks off to prepare for the state tournament for another run at a title.
“We have a chance, but it will help if we get a good ranking,” said Tokunaga who has pitched the Warriors to four BIIF championships and is headed for Sonoma State University to continue her career. “We’ve been hitting the ball really well, so if we can keep that up, who knows? It can only help.”
Kohala and Konawaena are also headed to states, which is May 11-14 at Patsy Mink Stadium on Maui.