After three straight years of heartbreak in the Data House/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association Division I Softball Championships, Baldwin finally broke through the quarterfinal round Thursday with a 5-1 victory over Campbell.

The Maui Interscholastic League champion and No. 3 seeded Bears (15-0) will play Interscholastic League of Honolulu champ and No. 2 seed St. Francis (13-3) in Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Baldwin lost its quarterfinal game by one run each time. In 2004, the Bears lost to Mililani, 7-6, in 12 innings and they fell to the Trojans again last year, 3-2, in 11 innings. In 2005, they lost to Pearl City, 4-3.

"It was heart-breaking to give your all and then come up short in extra innings," said Baldwin senior Nicole Alconcel, who was the starting pitcher in all four quarterfinal appearances, including Thursday's two-hitter with 10 strikeouts and three walks. "Every year, we say, 'this is our year (to win the state title),' but you have to show that by proving it, by winning the first game. It feels really good to accomplish one of our goals."

The Bears' impressive performance Thursday began with Alconcel, who allowed only a single by Kai Clark in the second inning and a triple by Loreen Egdamin in the third. Egdamin scored on Leinna Kalua's groundout to second, but that was it for the O'ahu Interscholastic Association runner-up Sabers (14-3), who managed only two more baserunners over the final four innings.

"She does a great job mixing speeds and she has good movement on her pitches," Campbell coach David Perreira said. "It seemed like everything was working for her."

Alconcel got the lead she needed in the top of the third inning, after Dayne Carvalho hit a one-out single to left field, advanced to second on June Ann Lusk's bunt single and scored on Sanoe Kekahuna's double to center. Shauna Ah Yen's sacrifice fly then scored Lusk to make it 2-0.

Baldwin extended the lead to 5-1 in the sixth after pinch hitter Malia Killam's RBI single got past the left fielder and scored two additional runs.

It was more than enough support for Alconcel, who struck out four in the final two innings.

"She has seven different pitches, and she'll go with whatever is working," Bears coach Rudy Souza said. "We let our catcher (Kekahuna) call the pitches."

Alconcel said she knew all about the Sabers' powerful lineup that had a combined 25 hits in two regular season games against OIA champ Mililani.

"We played them on Kaua'i (in a preseason tournament), so we got a good look at them," Alconcel said. "I tried to stay away from their power. My mentality was to put 100 percent into each pitch, to trust my spin, trust my rotation and trust my defense."

BALDWIN (15-0) 002 003 0—5 10 0

CAMPBELL (14-3) 001 000 0—1 2 1

Nicole Alconcel and Sanoe Kekahuna. Leinna Kalua and Anuhea Yamaguchi. W—Alconcel. L—Kalua.

Leading hitters—Baldwin: Dayne Carvalho 2-4, 2 runs; Sanoe Kekahuna RBI; Alconcel triple; Malia Killam RBI; Shauna Ah Yen RBI; Ashley Sakamura 2-3. Campbell: Loreen Edgamin triple; Kalua RBI.

QUARTERFINALS

'IOLANI 12, WAIAKEA 3

Kylee Ahlo went 4 for 5 and drove in one run and Lauren Oyadomari went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs to lead the Raiders (13-4) past the Warriors (11-2).

'Iolani took a 3-0 lead in the second inning after Allison Chu's RBI groundout, Kaz Masutani's run-scoring single to left field and Oyadomari's RBI double to center.

Waiakea cut it to 3-1 in the top of the third when Nicole Reister's two-out double brought home Kamie Imai. But the Raiders responded with five runs on five hits in the bottom half, highlighted by Oyadomari's two-run single to center.

Waiakea made it 8-3 in the fifth inning after Reister's run-scoring groundout and an 'Iolani error that scored another run. But the Raiders answered with Ahlo's RBI single to center, then they added three runs in the sixth on Tara Odo's two-run double to center and Kryn Masutani's RBI single to left.

'Iolani sophomore right hander Brittney Guro pitched a six-hitter with five strikeouts and one walk.

WAIAKEA (11-2) 001 020 0— 3 6 1

'IOLANI (13-4) 035 013 X—12 18 3

Kirsty Imai and Kia-Lee Taroma. Brittney Guro and Kai Masutani. W—Guro. L—Imai.

Leading hitters—Waiakea: Nicole Reister double, 2 RBIs. 'Iolani: Kaz Masutani 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Lauren Oyadomari 2-3, double, 3 RBIs; Jana Tokuhama RBI; Tara-lyn Odo 3-5, double, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Kai Masutani 3-5; Kryn Masutani 2-3, RBI, 2 runs; Kylie Ahlo 4-5, RBI, 2 runs; Allison Chu RBI.

ST. FRANCIS 7, KAILUA 1

Sasha Koki went 3 for 3 and scored two runs and Brittney Akana scattered seven hits in a complete-game pitching effort to lead the Troubadours (13-3) to their first-ever Division I semifinals.

St. Francis took a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Koki led off with a single and eventually scored on Keala Bertulfo's double to center field, and Bertulfo scored on Shannon Lum's single to center.

The Surfriders (12-5) cut it to 2-1 in the bottom half when Krista Dumandan led off with a walk and courtesy runner Dionne Ehulani Naki eventually scored on an outfield error.

The Troubadours extended the lead to 5-1 in the top of the second, however, on five hits and two errors.

Kailua had a chance to cut into the lead in the sixth when Brittany Tokunaga slammed a double to the left-field fence, but the base runner was thrown out at home and Tokunaga was tagged out at third trying to stretch it into a triple.

ST. FRANCIS (13-3) 230 000 2—7 11 1

KAILUA (12-5) 100 000 0—1 7 5

Brittany Akana and Ashley Smith. Krista Dumandan, Ashley Hopfe (2) and Brittany Tokunaga. W—Akana. L—Dumandan.

Leading hitters—St. Francis: Sasha Koki 3-3, 2 runs; Jovan Hire RBI; Keala Bertulfo 2-4, double, 2 RBIs; Shannon Lum 2-3, RBI; Ululani Reyes RBI. Kailua: Tokunaga double; Januari Santiago 2-3, RBI.

MILILANI 6, KAPOLEI 3 (8 INNINGS)

The No. 1-seeded Trojans (14-2) scored three runs on five hits in the top of the eighth inning after the Hurricanes had tied it 3-3 with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

Freshman second baseman Kristi Oshiro's sacrifice fly to center field with one out in the eighth scored Tierra Cuba. Celina Garces followed with an RBI single to center, then Chanelle Senas scored on an errant throw home to make it 6-3.

Mililani had taken a 3-0 lead in the second inning on Oshiro's two-run double and an outfield throwing error. The Hurricanes (12-6) closed to 3-2 in the fifth after two hits and an error, then tied it in the seventh on Tehani Ka'aihue's single to center, which scored courtesy runner Alysha Santiago from second base.

MILILANI (14-2) 030 000 03 — 6 16 2

KAPOLEI (12-6) 000 020 10 — 3 8 2

Reach Wes Nakama at wnakama@honoluluadvertiser.com.