This one might sting for a little bit.

The Hawai`i Hilo softball Vulcans dropped 2-1 and 7-6 (8 innings) games to No. 19 nationally ranked Concordia on Saturday afternoon at the UH Hilo softball field, UHH's first conference losses of the year. With the setbacks, the Vulcans fell to 13-6 overall and to 4-2 in the Pacific West Conference. The Eagles improved to 14-5 on the year and to 7-3 in the PacWest. 

UH Hilo lost a pitcher's duel in the first game, giving Cyanne Fernandez her first loss of the season, and then let a 6-0 lead evaporate during the extra inning loss in the nightcap. While the heartbreaking defeats might leave a mark, there is very little time to heal with PacWest leader California Baptist visiting on Monday (noon doubleheader) and No. 3 nationally ranked and undefeated Dixie State arriving for Friday and Saturday twinbills.

In the first game, two of the PacWest's top pitchers squared off in Fernandez and Concordia freshman Callie Nunes. The Eagles drew first blood when Sarah Kretschmar lined a triple past a diving Isabelle Mejia in center field, and she scored when Mackenzie Graham layed down a squeeze bunt to make it 1-0, Eagles. 

The Vulcans answered back in a dramatic way in the bottom half of the inning when Brinell Kaleikini fouled off four pitches, including a long launch (foul) over the left field fence. On the next pitch, she blasted a shot off Nunes deep over the left field wall and into the jungle beyond the fence to tie the game at 1-1. Nunes then gathered herself and struck out the next three batters.

The two aces matched zeros until the top of the fifth when Amy Eilefson hit a Fernandez change-up over the fence in left-centerfield to make it 2-1. That would turn out to be the game-winner. UHH freshman Markie Okamoto hit a double down the third base line in the sixth inning, but was stranded when Nunes worked a foul out and strikeout. She then put the Vulcans down in order in the seventh.

Nunes improved to 7-1 with the win, scattering five hits, walked three and struck out 10. Fernandez, who listed second in NCAA Division II stats in wins, took her first loss of the year (11-1). She gave up seven hits, two runs, walked one and fanned three. Mari Kawano had two hits for the Vulcans, while Ryann Ferguson and Kretschmar had the same for the Eagles.

UH Hilo looked to be well on their way to redeeming a split in the second game. Mejia cranked a solo home run against 2017 PacWest Pitcher of the Grayson Harvey in the second inning, her sixth round-tripper of the year to take an early 1-0 lead. The Vulcans then scored five runs in the fourth inning thanks in part to a two-run single by Bailey Gaspar, a sacrifice fly by Kaci Freudenberger and an RBI-single by Kaleikini. UHH also got some help on an Eagle throwing error that chased home a run.

That 6-0 lead looked safe as Vulcan pitcher Leah Gonzales was pitching perhaps her best game of the season. She kept the Eagles scoreless through the first four innings before hitting a batter and walking the next Eagle to lead off the fifth. Singles from Mckinsey Thorpe and Ferguson would cut the margin to four runs (6-2), but Gonzales got the next two batters to fly out.

Jordan Quinn then entered the pitcher's circle for the Eagles and she put the Vulcans down in order in the fifth, while Gonzales did the same to Quinn's team in the sixth. Quinn gave up a double to Kiarra Lincoln in the sixth, but she was left stranded, sending the game to the top of the seventh, with UH Hilo just three outs away from getting the split. 

But things then came unraveled for the Vulcans. Two Eagle singles and a hit batter chased Gonzales from the game, bringing Fernandez back to try and close things out. Ferguson greeted the Vulcan ace with an RBI-single and a few batters later, Amanda Gjertsen laced a double off the left field fence to make the score 6-5, Vulcans. Kretschma was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases, and Graham then worked a game-tying walk before Fernandez got the final out of the seventh to send the game into the bottom of the seventh. 

Kaleikini singled to lead off the seventh, and a one-out sacrifice moved her to second, but Quinn fanned the next batter to send the game to extra innings. In the eighth, Concordia's Thorpe singled up the middle with one out, and with two gone, Kailey Palazzolo ripped a ball off the center field fence to bring home the go-ahead run, 7-6.

In the bottom half, Skylar Thomas led off the inning with a walk, and after a ground out, Nunes came back into the pitcher's circle. She fanned one batter, walked Lincoln, and with rain coming down and a full count on Gaspar, she got the Vulcan slugger to chase a rise ball to end the game. 

Quinn got the win for the Eagles with 3.1 excellent relief innings (two hits, four strikeouts) and Nunes picked up her fourth save of the year. Fernandez took the hard-luck loss to move to 11-2. Kaleikini had two hits for the Vulcans in the game, while Ashley Balestreri had three hits to lead Concordia.