Debuting on your TV screens soon is a new Netflix series called “The Carys and Nellie Show.”
NOT!
But it has a nice ring to it and it describes to a ‘T’ the Maryknoll Spartans’ 9-2 victory over Kapolei in the Division I semifinals of the DataHouse/HHSAA Softball State Championships on Wednesday night at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
Carys Murakami and Nellie McEnroe-Marinas were a big part of Maryknoll’s 9-2 win over Kapolei in the Division I semifinals of the DataHouse/HHSAA Softball State Championships at the University of Hawaii’s Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Wednesday night.
Eh, but before we get into the details of that win, let’s have a little fun with the TV show theme first. Maybe the opening credits show junior shortstop Nellie McEnroe-Marinas dancing to Salt N Pepa’s “Push It” playing on the stadium loudspeaker, like she actually did Wednesday while the Spartans’ defense warmed up for the bottom of the sixth inning.
And then on our screen, it cuts to senior second baseman Carys Murakami, who catches a grounder, tags a runner going from first to second and flips to first for a would-be double play before running toward the dugout with a smile beaming from ear to ear. Again, that actually happened Wednesday, except the umpires ruled she did not make the tag so the bottom of the fourth inning continued for the Hurricanes.
And just as Salt (or Pepa) sings “Ooh, baby, baby,” the camera for the opening credits switches to shots of Wednesday’s crushed homers by McEnroe-Marinas to left field in the third inning and by Murakami to right field in the fifth.
And for good measure, one of the main characters of this TV drama (and/or comedy) is Maryknoll coach John Uekawa, who the camera cuts to next. He is shown jogging down the outside of the baseline from his coaching box at third base toward home plate to congratulate his Spartans as the winning run scores to beat ‘Iolani in the 2021 ILH championship game. That was the school’s third league title, but it was the first time Maryknoll climbed to the very top of the mountain against all other competitors in the state. Due to COVID-19, the ILH was the only one of the five leagues in business at that time so no state tournament was held.
Of course, all of the Maryknoll girls are characters in this show, but not all get a starring role. That’s the way TV shows (and sports teams) g0. But there are many others big performers on this Spartans squad. One of them, sophomore Jenna Sniffen, would probably pop into those final few seconds of the opening of the show, too. Maybe saying something like, “What about me?” before throwing a pitch that hums across the plate with a batter taking a missed swing.
Sniffen was pretty much lights out on Wednesday. She did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, a slow bounder down the third base line by Kapolei’s Moani Ioane. You could tell that Sniffen thought about letting the ball go foul, but at the last second, she picked it up and fired it to first too late.
After that, the Hurricanes only picked up two more hits, RBI doubles by Alewa Ena and Jerzie Liana in the seventh that produced their only two runs in the ballgame.
By then, the outcome had been pretty much decided as Sniffen improved to 9-2 in the pitchers’ circle and helped her cause at the plate with a double, single and RBI.
Murakami, who will play for Cal State Northridge next season, led off the game with a double, and her fifth inning swat was her eighth homer of the year. She finished with three hits and four runs scored.
McEnroe-Marinas (and the whole Maryknoll infield for that matter) was a veritable vacuum cleaner, scooping up grounders and firing on the money to first base all night. McEnroe-Marinas also drove in Murakami with Maryknoll’s final run in the seventh with a base hit to go along nicely with her earlier round-tripper.
It was only a mild surprise that after the game, McEnroe-Marinas said she will be playing softball in college for Oklahoma in two more seasons. She’s THAT good, but not many from Hawaii get that chance — although former Campbell star Jocelyn Alo paved the way by going on to be a nationally known home run king for the Sooners in recent years.
“Our whole game plan was to jell at the right time,” coach Uekawa said. “I thought we kind of peaked at the wrong time (just before the ILH tournament), but I think that we’re right there now. It feels good because we went up to a peak, went down and now we are making a comeback coming back up. I feel pretty confident the team is going to play at full steam tomorrow. The key is that defense wins championships and we pride ourselves on that. It was shown tonight.”
For the Spartans (11-5), this is a historic moment. They’ve never been to the state championship game and, now that they’re there, they’re on a mission to bring home the school’s first HHSAA championship.
And Uekawa and the rest of the Maryknoll squad knows it will be FAR from easy. The opponent is the team they lost to for the ILH title, coach Benny Agbayani’s Raiders, who topped Mililani 10-4 in Wednesday’s nightcap at the University of Hawaii.
“I really think that ‘Iolani is very good and it’s going to be a dogfight,” Uekawa added.
Here are Maryknoll’s results against ‘Iolani this year:
>> March 19: L, 6-5
>> April 5: W, 7-4
>> April 22: W, 9-0
>> April 27: L, 9-8
>> April 29: L, 15-6
Those last two losses to the Raiders were in the ILH tournament, where the Spartans were dethroned as league champions.
Two outstanding fielding plays by Kapolei (12-3) in the seventh Wednesday — a diving catch of a liner by third baseman Puakea Milbourne and a running catch in foul territory just before reaching the fence by Ioane in left field — kept Maryknoll from ending the game via the 10-run rule.
“Honestly, we had a plan coming into this season, especially this tournament,” McEnroe-Marinas said. “We’re just going to play for each other. Just pick each other up, always. We know what we have in front of us. We just have to stick to our plan.”
Added Murakami: “I think that we’re on our peak right now, going into tomorrow and we’re doing really well as a team — so shoutout to my team for doing everything tonight and I think that we can come out with good energy and good effort tomorrow night. It’s (winning the state title) been our goal all year, so to be here is pretty surreal and I’m excited to do it with this special group of girls here.”
The next part of this story is a sort of TV Guide look at some of the main characters as told by the other main characters in this tale:
>> McEnroe-Marinas on Sniffen: “Jenna’s been working super hard. She’s one of the hardest workers I know. I have 100 percent faith that she can carry us through the rest of this tournament. From the outside looking in, you’d think she was really mean, from her face. She has a resting B face, but when you get to know her, she’s a Teddy Bear. She’s amazing.”
>> McEnroe-Marinas on Murakami: “Carys, hmmm, this girl. Carys is a sweetheart. She’s super loving. She’s super supportive. She’s the type to care about everyone else before herself.”
>> McEnroe-Marinas on herself: “Honestly, I feel like I don’t know how to describe myself. I love to love people. I feel like I’m a really genuine person and I like picking people up, helping them out. … And, if I didn’t distract myself by dancing or something ike that, I’d get like really nervous in my head, so (the dancing) is a distraction for myself.”
“Murakami on McEnroe-Marinas, Sniffen and Coach Uekawa: “Nellie is a hard worker, always brings good energy and hypes me up and I think she is very unique in the sense that her mentality and mind-set are like no other. Coach John’s got a bit of funny, but knows when to be serious. Overall, a good mix.”
Coach Uekawa on McEnroe-Marinas, Murakami and Sniffen: “One is a senior, one is a junior and one is a sophomore. Carys was our leader this year and was complemented with those two great players. But you’ve got learn how to lead. She took some grinds at the beginning because some of the girls didn’t want to listen to her. But everything just came together. Everybody was on their own way and then we pulled it all together. We have a bulldog in our sophomore Sniffen, right? Nellie is just so finesseful and graceful. And we’ve got that overachiever in Carys. She’s short, but if you think about it, she has the most home runs in this whole state.”
‘Iolani Upends Mililani To Make It To Tonight’s State Final
The last time a state softball tournament was held, Coach Agbayani and the Raiders stood tall above the D-I competition.
That was 2019. It’s now three years later and they’re going for a COVID disrupted REPEAT.
Ailana Agbayani, the coach’s daughter, went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, a double and home run to lead the way for ‘Iolani (12-3) in Wednesday night’s 10-4 victory. She also picked up the pitching win in relief of Allie Capello, getting by despite allowing 10 hits and four earned runs while striking out seven.
The big bats for Mililani (13-3) came from Jackie Kilpatrick (2-for-4, homer, three RBIS) and Kolbi Kochi and Kaui Garcia (both 3-for-4), but the Trojans went down in defeat when ‘Iolani broke open a close 4-3 game with four runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
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LAST YEAR’S ILH SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME STORY at BedrockSportsHawaii.com:
Maryknoll’s Conquest Of ‘Iolani Is Good For ILH Softball Title
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2019 FEATURE STORY ON THE AGBAYANI FAMILY by Nick Abramo In The Honolulu Star-Advertiser (pay wall alert):
