Softball Weekly: Road trip continues with six games at power-packed Tournament of Champions

This Weekend—Tournament of Championships, hosted by Stanislaus State, Turlock, Calif., March 31-April 2
Last Games—Went 6-4 during tour of northern California Pacific West Conference teams
Record: 14-16 overall, 8-12 Pacific West Conference

California Residents: At the tail end of 16 games during a 13-day span in northern California, the Vulcans will partake in the Tournament of Champions this weekend in Turlock. In the annual showcase of teams from across the west, the Vulcans will play six games in three days—two each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Who Set This Up?: As can always be expected, the Tournament of Champions is loaded with top teams from the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). This year, the Vulcans will play six teams from the CCAA, and it just so happens in their first three contests, they will get three teams ranked in the Top 15 in the country. On Friday, they will get No. 7 Chico State and No. 15 Cal State Monterey Bay, followed by an early morning Saturday match-up with No. 2 Humboldt State. Here's a look at their schedule.
Friday, 4:30 pm vs. No. 7 Chico State (20-5), 7 p.m. vs. No. 15 Cal State Monterey Bay (23-4)
Saturday, 9 am vs. No. 2 Humboldt State (21-4), 2 pm vs. Stanislaus State (14-18)
Sunday, 2 pm vs. Cal State Dominguez Hills (5-28), 4:30 pm vs. Cal State East Bay (18-12)     
                                                      
Splitting Hairs and Games: In UHH's first eight games of their northern California trip, against three different PacWest opponents, the Vulcans split four straight doubleheaders. They did so against Dominican (W 5-1/L 8-3), Academy of Art (W 10-2/L 10-9), Academy of Art again (W 11-10/L 5-2) and Notre Dame de Namur (W 12-2/L 4-0). They finally broke the hex in resounding fashion against Holy Names, winning both games via mercy rule on Tuesday, 11-0 and 23-3.

Run Rampage: In five of those ten games, the Vulcans tallied double digit run totals, and scored nine in a 10-9 loss to the Urban Knights. They scored 34 runs in one day in the sweep of Holy Names and tallied 39 hits in the doubleheader.

By the Numbers: With the increased offensive output, UHH's numbers took a climb upward. Their team average jumped 34 points in the ten games, climbing to .296....Mari Kawano leads the Vulcans with a .389 average and a team-best 10 stolen bases. She is also second on the squad with 22 runs scored….Kristen Ishii is hitting .360 with a team-best six doubles and seven stolen bases….Bailey Gaspar is batting .358 and leads the Vuls in runs scored (26), home runs (8) and walks (26). She is second on the squad in RBI with 21…Catcher Danielle Pulido is hitting .352 with five doubles, four home runs and 20 RBI…Cristina Menjivar leads UHH in RBI with 22 and is hitting .284.

It Turns Out That Pitchers Can Hit: Working their way into the offensive side of the line-up on this trip were pitchers Leah Gonzales and Billi Derleth. Gonzales is hitting .364 in 22 at bats, while Derleth sits at .300 with 40 trips to the plate. Derleth also has three home runs and 13 RBI.

Pitching Progress: Leah Gonzales picked up three wins this week in the pitching circle, improving to 4-3 on the season. She tossed a shutout in the 11-0 win over Holy Names, allowing just three hits and fanning six in five innings of work. She also gave up just one run during a mercy rule win over Notre Dame de Namur, and went seven complete in a 5-1 victory at Dominican, giving up just three hits and one earned run. Billi Derleth earned a win against Academy of Art in a 10-2 game, allowing just five hits in two runs in five innings of mercy rule work. On the year, Gonzales sports a 3.30 ERA to go with her 4-3 record. Cyanne Fernandez is now 2-3 with a 2.62 ERA, Danielle Wilson is 5-7 (4.51 ERA) and Derleth is 3-3 (5.56).

Youth is Served: Three freshman continue to be listed in the starting line-up, four if you include pitcher Leah Gonzales. Brinell Kaleikini now has 30 starts at five different positions--right field, catcher, shortstop, centerfield and third base. Kristen Ishii has started all 30 games in left field. Danielle Antolin has started 26 games at second base and Gonzales has seven starts in the pitcher's circle and two as the DP.

PacWest Progress: California Baptist, ranked No. 25 nationally, remains on top of the latest Pacific West Conference standings, through 3/28.
 
Team                                                     PWC      Overall
California Baptist                                    18-2       24-7
Dixie State                                              15-5       30-8
Concordia                                               12-4       24-9-2
Azusa Pacific                                          12-6       20-11
Dominican                                               13-7      14-16
Academy of Art                                        9-11      15-17
Notre Dame de Namur                             7-10       7-13
Hawai`i Hilo                                             8-12      14-16
Hawai`i Pacific                                         7-11      14-14
BYU-Hawaii                                             7-13       10-22
Chaminade                                              3-14         5-22
Holy Names                                             2-17         3-23
 
Callen's back: Returning for his 21^st season at UHH, but his first since 2009 is head coach Callen Perreira. The school's all-time winningest coach is back after four seasons at College of Southern Nevada (136-104). Perreira's first season in the Vulcan dugout was in 1990 (13-15) and by his second season he had led his team to a program-record 39 wins (39-9). His teams won a pair of Pacific West Conference titles (2004-05) and they made NCAA regional appearances from 2005-07. His 1992 team placed fourth at the NAIA World Series. Including games thus far in 2017, his all-time mark as a UHH coach is now 590-361, and his all-time collegiate record is 726-465-3.