An Upset For The Sabers Is A Good Lesson Learned
By Jack Danilewicz
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Campbell High softball player Kai Clark
practices her swing. Photo by Nathalie
Walker, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
There may be more to learn from winning than losing, but Campbell High School softball coach Davie Perreira would never underestimate the lessons learned in an uncharacteristic outing for his team.
After breezing through the OIA West Conference slate with 11 straight wins, his Sabers committed 10 errors in the first two innings of a 7-0 loss to Kapolei on Jan. 10.
Although that was not the finale to the regular season that the Sabers were hoping for, they still figure among the favorites in this week’s OIA tournament, along with East powers Moanalua and Kailua. If anything, losing to the Hurricanes gave the Sabers a new sense of urgency, to hear Perreira tell it.
“Sometimes you find out more about yourself in a loss,” Perreira said. “It taught us a lot. We had a lot of younger kids come into the game and shut them (Kapolei) down the rest of the way. We know when we go to our bench, we have kids who are ready to play now.
“The kids came back and had a good practice the next day,” he added. “They’re disappointed they didn’t go undefeated (in league play), but that’s hard to do in the West, where everyone is good. The season we had was great. The girls are ready to prove they should be where they are.”
The top five finishers from the OIA’s post-season tournament earn bids for the upcoming DataHouse Division I state softball championships. Because the Sabers own the West’s No. 1 seed for this week’s tournament, they need only win Thursday’s game against either Waipahu or Roosevelt to earn a bid to the state tournament. A loss in Thursday’s encounter would put the Sabers in a position of having to win the consolation bracket to receive the OIA’s fifth and final seed.
In what promises to be a balanced tournament this week, there will be little margin for error for the teams involved. Campbell’s defensive play had been flawless until the loss to Kapolei, committing only five errors through their first 11 games. Regaining their form defensively could go a long way toward determining the Sabers’ fate.
“We’ll see who wants it more,” Perreira said of the OIA Tournament. “The team that stays more focused will win. That’s what it takes at tournament time.”
Offensively, the Sabers tallied 73 runs during the regular season and have a team batting average of .347. Four of them - Breann Patton .478 (three home runs, 11 RBI), Leinna Kalua (.412, seven RBI), Chanel Bali-Gaui (.400) and Juraishelei Murray-Thornton (.400) - are batting at least .400, with every member of the team above the .300 mark.
“I think we’ll be OK there (offensively),” Perreira said.“We’ve hit the ball all season long. I’m hoping we can regroup and find the pitches we want to hit again.”
Perreira will go with either Patton or Kalua on the mound Thursday. Both were among the state’s best this season. The Sabers enter the post-season with a team earned run average of just 1.56.
“We may go with Bre (in the first game),” Perreira said of Patton. “We want her to bounce back after her last outing (against Kapolei), but we’ll see. Who starts will depend on who is working hard in practice.”
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