Baldwin Rallies For Win in State Softball Opener

By Fred Guzman

Even their most faithful fans had to figure that the Lady Bears had no chance of staging a comeback against such a highly-touted opponent. Not with Baldwin trailing Mililani, one of Hawaii’s premier prep softball programs, 3-0 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.

But — somehow, and some way – Baldwin overcame that deficit to pull out an unlikely 4-3 win last night and advanced into the quarterfinals of the state high school Division-I softball tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium..

Baldwin will next face second-seeded Mid-Pacific today at 5 p.m.

The Bears tied the game on a two, out two-run single by Skylynne Ellazar. Kaitlyn Watanabe reached on an error that allowed Ellazar to advance to third. Kylie-Rose Dickson then bounced a single into right field to score Ellazar with the winning run.

MIL champion Lahainaluna opens its bid today. The fourth-seeded Lunas drew a first round bye and will face Castle at 3 o’clock. Castle advanced by surviving a 10-9 slugfest against Punahou.

In other D-I action today, fourth-seeded Waiakea faces Leilehua and top-seeded Campbell tangles with Kapolei.

In yesterday’s other first-round results, Kapolei routed Kealakehe 10-2 and Leilehua edged Kailua 7-6.

Both of the MIL representatives in the D-II portion of the tournament suffered first-round losses yesterday at Central Oahu Regional Park.

Kalaheo defeated Molokai 10-7 and Waialua beat Hana 7-1. Both teams are scheduled for consolation bracket games at 5 p.m. today, with the Farmers facing Kohala and the Dragons challenging Honokaa.

In yesterday’s other D-II results, St. Francis topped Honokaa 10-6 and Waipahu routed Kohala 15-0.

Both of the softball tournaments conclude on Friday night.