LAS VEGAS, Nev.--Bailey Gaspar hit a three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning and freshman Leah Gonzalez pitched nearly seven innings of scoreless relief to help Hawai`i Hilo win its 2017 season opener over Northwest Nazarene, 9-6.

The victory came at the Desert Stinger at Majestic Park in Las Vegas, giving UHH a 1-0 mark to start the season. Northwest Nazarene, of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, is now 0-3.

It was a "welcome back" game for Vulcan head coach Callen Perreira, who returned to the UHH dugout for the first time since 2009. It was his first victory as the Vulcan head coach in 2017, but was his 577th as the UHH leader overall (577-345-3). 

To get that win, it took some offensive mashing from two returning All-Americans and a splendid pitching performance out of the bullpen from a freshman making her college debut.

Gonzalez, a rookie from Wilmington, Calif., threw 6.2 innings and did not give up an earned run. She allowed only three hits, walked three and struck out five. Her work included two innings of international tie-breaker pressure, where a runner is placed on second to begin the inning. 

"Leah did very well in the pressure of her first college game," Perreira said. "She mixed things up and her change-up was devestating."

Gonzalez could breathe a sigh of relief in the top of the ninth inning (UHH was the visitor) when Gaspar mashed a three-run shot into the wind to give the Vulcans a 9-5 lead. Earlier in the game, she had also doubled. Her fellow All-PacWest teammate Cristina Menjivar had three hits in the contest as the two began the season where they left off last year.

Much earlier, UH Hilo jumped out to a 1-0 lead after Kacie Freudenberger hit a solo home run in her first at-bat in a Vulcan uniform. But the Crusaders countered with a pair of long balls in the third inning to take a 4-1 lead, chasing Vulcan starter Billi Derleth from the pitching cirlce. That NNU lead held until the fifth inning when Perreira's team started playing small ball, using back-to-back bunt singles by freshmen Brinell Kalekini and Kristen Ishii to set up their next two runs. Another bunt and NNU error allowed Kalekini and Ishii to score, followed by a Menjivar single that scored Mari Kawano. That tied the game at 4-4, which is where the scoreboard stood at the end of seven regulation innings.

With the internaitonal tie-breaker in play, UHH scored an unearned run in the top of the eighth after a bunt again gave NNU trouble, but the Crusaders got that score back in the bottom half on a fielder's choice. In the ninth, Gaspar put the three-run distance between the two teams with her blast, after UHH picked up an unearned run a few moments earlier. In the bottom half of the ninth, NNU scored one more time, but Gonzalez fanned the final Crusader batter to end the game.

Joining Gaspar and Menjivar in the Vulcan hit parade were Freudenberger and Kaleikini with two hits each. UH Hilo had 11 hits overall compared to just six for NNU. 

"It was tough conditions, very windy and cold," Perreira added. "We showed some character to fight back from being down 4-1."

The Vulcans will return to tournament play on Saturday, taking on Sonoma State at 9:30 am (Pacific time) and will then battle Western New Mexico under the lights at 7 p.m.