Surfriders Shoring Up Defense For OIA Playoffs

Wednesday - April 09, 2008
By Jack Danilewicz
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Kailua head softball coach Bernard Victor has won enough championships to know that often there isn’t a direct line to success.

“It can be frustrating the way it goes, but sometimes the best thing is not to be at your best early,” said Victor, who has led the Surfriders to six Oahu Interscholastic Association titles as well as four state championships. “You can start good, and sometimes you fade away at the end. We haven’t hit our peak yet, and that’s a good thing.”

The Surfriders are in the midst of one of their more challenging stretches as far as their schedule goes. Kailua was to play OIA Red East leader Moanalua over the weekend, while Friday’s game against Castle should figure equally big for both programs. Both Castle and Kailua went into last weekend’s games with 4-2 records. Kailua’s losses came to Moanalua (2-0) in its season-opener and vs. Kaimuki (4-3) on March 28.

With the league as balanced as ever this regular season, the importance of timing and luck can’t be discounted, in Victor’s view.

“We could use a lot of it (luck),” Victor mused. “It should be really interesting in the playoffs because anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Every team has a good pitcher, some more than one.”


For their part, the Surfriders’ No. 1 priority in the coming weeks will be to shore up a defense that has suffered from inconsistency at times this season. Kailua’s loss to Kaimuki was a good example, as the Surfriders held the lead only to be done in with errors.

“Especially when the games are so close, you can’t make an error,” Victor said. “We’ve been making key errors. Against Kaimuki, mistakes cost us two runs. We should have been out of the (key) inning. We’re playing OK, but I think we could be playing better.”

For the teams in the Red, the next few weeks will be all about positioning for the post-season, making Friday’s game with Castle all the more important. The Surfriders won the first meeting between the teams on March 18, 5-2, and expect another stern test this time around.

While he has been able to call on four pitchers for most of the season, Victor expects senior Krista Dumandan to start against Castle. She opened the last meeting between the teams and was off to a solid start before having to leave the game after getting hit by a line drive. Sophomore reliever Shelby Lolo came on in relief in that game and helped to keep the Knights in check.


“They’re a good hitting team, so our pitchers did really well against them the first time,” Victor said. “I think we’re coming along all right. I tell the girls how you practice is how you’ll play. If you make mistakes in practice, you’ll make them in the game, and if you’re not hitting here, you’re not going to be hitting in the game. Hopefully, we’ll keep improving. If we get to the playoffs, we want to be in top shape. We’re not consistent, but on any given day we can play with anybody.”

The OIA playoffs begin early next month. The top five finishers in the OIA’s post-season earn berths to the DataHouse 2008 State Softball Championships, which will run from March 14-17.

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