CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa – They’re tied no more.

Marissa Mesquita scored twice and Sydney Johnson added a penalty-kick goal as Kubasaki won Okinawa bragging rights in girls soccer, beating Kadena 3-1 in Friday’s season finale at Kubasaki’s Mike Petty Stadium.

It was the first time in four meetings that one team or the other won. Their previous three encounters, including a preseason scrimmage, resulted in draws, 1-1 in the March 13 scrimmage, 2-2 on March 27 and 0-0 on April 26. “Somebody finally won,” said coach Annie Mudd of Kubasaki, also the reigning Far East Division I Tournament champions.

Each team had plenty of chances in the April 26 match, Kubasaki in the first half and Kadena in the second. So, Mudd said the Dragons worked all week leading up to Friday’s match on finding the back of the net.

“We finished,” Mudd said. “We had problems with it, especially against Kadena. It’s all we’ve been working on. And it paid off.

Mesquita opened the scoring with what looked like a crossing pass that instead ended up in the net, and the one-goal lead stood at halftime. Johnson’s goal followed on a penalty kick, something that Panthers coach Ed Thompson said “took the spirit” out of his players for a bit. Eliza Bolding got the Panthers back in it with a penalty-kick goal of her own, but Mesquita followed with an insurance marker off a through pass from Makayla Palazzo.

The Panthers spent the closing minutes attacking the Kubasaki goal, “but we just ran out of time,” Thompson said.

Tied matches instead became the province of Kadena’s and Kubasaki’s boys, who finished their season series with a 0-0 draw. The Panthers won the series with a 2-0-1 record.

Play began Friday on the diamonds with the Okinawa regular-season champions prevailing in Games 1 of their best-of-three finals series.

Renton Poole tossed six innings of two-hit ball, striking out 10 and walking just one, Angelo Bourdony homered and knocked in four runs and Jaren Blessett added three RBIs to power Kubasaki baseball to its eighth win over Kadena this season, 14-3 in six innings in a game shortened by the 10-run rule.

The Dragons chased Justin Sego with three runs each in the first and second innings and pulled away with a five-run fifth. Sego had a double and an RBI in the losing cause. Kubasaki is chasing its eighth straight island title. In softball, Kadena’s Bailey Prince and Alicia Vaughan overcame 12 walks, striking out five and allowing just four hits and the Panthers survived a late Dragons surge to edge Kubasaki 10-8. Maria Vaughan drove in two runs for Kadena, while Adrienne Lee hit a grand-slam for the Dragons, who committed four errors. Prince got the win and Vaughan the save, while Makyla Herrera took the loss. Kadena is trying to regain the title it won nine straight years before Kubasaki won it last year.

Saturday’s Games 2 and 3, the latter if necessary, appear in doubt as bad weather is forecast for the entire day. Kubasaki’s athletics director Fred Bales said the games would be made up next Thursday and Friday in the event of a postponement.

Kubasaki High School student newspaper sports editor Kelsey Rogers contributed to this story.

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