HHSAA State Softball Champs Musings

I love the idea of high school state championships. All the athletes I know strive to qualify for these tournaments. The athletes and teams that make it have to work hard and improve themselves. It's not easy to qualify and it's even harder to win.

A problem I've seen in the past is that I don't think the best teams are always in the tournament. I know this is very difficult to accomplish and it's a tough numbers game that sometimes leaves deserving teams out in the cold. Last year, I believe that happened in certain sports, volleyball, basketball and soccer immediately come to mind, but there are probably more that I'm just not too familiar with.

I really like the idea of the stronger leagues having a "play in" possibility to qualify where the team that just misses qualifying has a chance to make it by beating a team from another league who also has just missed. This is why the wildcard games in major league baseball were instituted. I like it and see that it's starting to happen in the HHSAA tournaments. This is a great trend and I hope it continues.

That said, and I am the first to admit I'm not an expert on softball, it seems to me that softball worked out really well this year. I saw many ILH games during the regular season and I spent about 6 hours a day at the HHSAA Championships this year, so I guess that either makes me a bit crazy and/or gives me a bit of background to say the results were accurate.

I'm really only talking about Division I because I really didn't see enough of Division II to comment (but I really like that Division II exists). The final results were Baldwin, Mililani, Iolani and St. Francis. I saw almost all of Iolani's games this year, know most of the girls, and have to say I'm totally biased in my thinking about them. I also saw St. Francis quite a bit. Mililani and Baldwin I hadn't seen at all until this tournament, although I heard that they were both powerhouses. And they were.

Both Mililani and Baldwin have outstanding pitchers which gave them the edge and the means to make the finals. All four teams have a strong defense and can hit. It's the pitchers, though, that in my opinion made the difference.

Baldwin has Nicole Alconcel and Mililani has Makani Duhaylonsod. I saw them both pitch a few games and they were awesome. I love Makani's changeup. Added to her power it really makes her tough. Nicole, what can I say, if I could pick one pitcher to build a team around, she'd be on the top of my list. Not only is she a great pitcher, she is an all around outstanding athlete and dynamite with the bat.

So, my kudos to the HHSAA for doing a great job with this tournament. Getting the right teams to vie for the championship and running a smooth tournament is not easy. Baldwin and Mililani are both super teams, they deserved to make the finals, and Baldwin is a very worth state champion.