HILO, Hawai`i--Azusa Pacific found two radically different ways to win a softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the UH Hilo Softball Field, and both of them hurt equally bad if you were a Hawai`i Hilo Vulcan.

The Cougars won the first game 10-2 and took the second as well, 1-0. APU improved to 18-7 on the season and to 10-2 in the Pacific West. The Vulcans fell to 7-9 overall and to 1-5 in the PacWest, dropping their fifth straight game.

APU spoiled a great pitching performance by Cyanne Fernandez in the second game with one swing of the bat. In the top of the sixth, Erinn Jaramillo lifted a solo shot over the centerfield fence, one of only four hits the Cougars would have in the whole game, but it was the most damaging. That one run held up because APU's Kat Ung was throwing blanks at the Vulcan bats.

Ung gave up a single in the second inning and another in the third, but otherwise handcuffed the home team. The Vulcans advanced runners to second base in each of those innings, but get them no further. Ung improved to 4-2 on the season, walking just two and fanning three.

For the second weekend in a row, Fernandez was the hard-luck loser. She scattered four hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out five. She also lost in the 13-inning marathon to Concordia last Sunday, despite not giving up an earned run in seven innings of work. 

In the first game, the Cougars used two big innings to put all the runs on the scoreboard that they would need. And it was the bottom of the order that kick-started the run parade. 

The number seven batter in the order, Emily Moran, got the first hit of the game to lead off the inning. Singles at the bottom of the order followed by Ariana von Zboray and Abry Moreno to load the bases for lead-off batter Illiana Jimenez. She was then hit by a pitch to bring home a run and one batter later Nicki Sprague drove home three Cougars with a double. 

APU added five more runs in the top of the seventh, this time slashing six hits and taking advantage of a pair of Vulcan errors. In between those two big innings, Vulcan starter Danielle Wilson was very effective, allowing just one hit and a walk in her other five innings of work. 

The Vulcans got on the board in the bottom half of the last inning when Toshonnie Baker drove in two runs with a single. Earlier, Jordan Millwood had worked a walk and Maria Steadmon had slapped a base hit to set the table.

Carly Xepoleas went the distance for the Cougars, allowing just four hits and two runs to improve to 5-2 on the year. She walked four and struck out six.

The Vulcans will have no time to rest, taking on No. 12 nationally ranked Dixie State on Sunday. The doubleheader will start at noon.