HILO, Hawai`i--It was the longest of games and the shortest of games, and it was Concordia who came out on top of both versions in softball action on Sunday at the UH Hilo softball field.

The Eagles claimed the 13-inning first game 10-9, and then captured the five-inning darkness shortened nightcap, 7-1. The wins gave Concordia the series edge over the Vulcans (3-1), and they improved to 12-8-2 on the season, 3-3 in the Pacific West Conference. UH Hilo dropped to 7-7 overall and to 1-3 in conference play.

The first game of the drama filled twinbill lasted 4 hours and 24 minutes. The second game was clocked at 1:32 before it was called at the end of the fifth inning.

In the second game, Concordia scored five runs in the top of the fifth to break open a 2-1 contest.CU wrapped out 4 singles and took advantage of two walks and a hit batter to put distance between themselves and their hosts. Earlier, they put a run on the board in the first when Hanna Miller and Amy Eilefson switched places with a pair of doubles.

The Vulcans scored their only run of the game in the third with base knocks from Brinell Kaleikini and Amanda Lara, and one Eagle error. But otherwise the game was in the hands of CUI pitcher BethAnn McCann, who scattered five hits and struck out two. She improved to 6-1 on the season.

Eilefson went 3-for-3 in the game for Concordia and drove in two runs. Nobody had more than one hit for the Vulcans. Danielle Wilson suffered her first loss of the season in the pitcher's circle, falling to 4-1 on the year.

For those that expected to see a softball game when they arrived at noon, saw a marathon instead.

The two teams combined for 19 runs and 29 hits, and mixed in six errors just to keep everyone on their toes. 

The Vulcans scored twice in the bottom of the first, thanks to a pair of walks delivered by Eagles ace Grayson Harvey, paired with an error and a single by Cristina Menjivar. With Wilson on the mound for the Vulcans, that held until the top of the fourth when Concordia erupted for five runs. A pair of two-run homers by Eilefson and Kailey Palazzolo accounted for four of the runs and Nicole Chavez drove in the other with a single.

But UH Hilo battled back in the fifth with three plate crossings of their own. A two-run shot by Danielle Pulido and an RBI-double by Toshonnie Baker tied the game at 5-5 and chased Harvey from the game (for the time being).

In the sixth, Concordia plated three more, this time courtesy of a three-run blast by Miller. The Vulcans got one run back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Jordan Millwood, but they still trailed 8-6 heading into the bottom of the seventh. 

In the fateful seventh, with one runner on base, two outs and two strikes on Bailey Gaspar, the third baseman prolonged the game with a shot over the left-centerfield fence, sending the contest into extra innings. At the time of course, no one could have known that both teams would basically play nearly the equivilent of another whole game.

No one would score again until the 11th inning, with the international tie-breaker rule in effect (inning starts with a runner on second base). In the pitcher's circle for the Vulcans, Cyanne Fernandez did fantastic work, only finally allowing a run in the 11th when Eilefson drove home a runner that began on second and was advanced to third on a bunt. But the Vulcans answered in the bottom of the 11th in the same scenario, when Kristen Ishii brought home a run with a sacrifice fly. 

While Fernandez was firing blanks from the pitching rubber, the Eagles were getting similar results from Harvey, whom they brought back into the game. She pitched the final five innings for Concordia and didn't allow an earned run. The visitors scratched out another run in the 13th with a two-out rally, using a Vulcan error to send their 10th runner across the plate. In the bottom of the 13th, UH Hilo moved a runner to third but couldn't get her home, and Harvey struck out the final batter of the game.

Fernandez was the hard-luck loser, despite not giving up an earned run. She allowed only four hits in seven innings of work, walked two and struck out two. Offensively, Mari Kawano, Gaspar and Pulido had three hits each. Gaspar also walked four times, twice interntionally. Sarah Kretschmar and McKinsey Thorpe had three hits each for the Eagles.

The Vulcans will have to put Sunday behind them, as two of the top teams in the conference come to town next weekend. UH Hilo will host Azusa Pacific, who is 12-5, on Saturday, with Dixie State in town on Sunday (18-3). Both teams are unbeaten in PWC play. Both doubleheaders will start at noon.