TURLOCK, Calif.—Hawai`i Hilo played only one of their two scheduled games on Saturday at the Tournament of Champions because of wet field conditions.

But the one game that they did play had enough action and excitement for two or more games, as the Vulcans rallied back twice to take a 6-5 win over Cal State East Bay to improve to 2-1 in the tournament and 17-9 on the year.

The Pioneers, of the CCAA, fell to 13-20 on the season with the heartbreaking loss, that they appeared to have won twice.

Bailey Gaspar led both comebacks in the fifth and sixth innings with a pair of doubles, and she finished 3-for-4 in the game with four RBI. She was one hero, perhaps not surprising considering what the senior third baseman has been done in the past.

The other hero was a surprise, especially when you notice that Megan Berrelleza was making her first pitching appearance of the year. More on that later.

Earlier, the Pioneers scored a run in each of the first two innings against Vulcan pitching ace Cyanne Fernandez. Sarah Fukushima had an RBI-double in the first inning and Belle Placencia had a run-scoring two-bagger in the second to give CSUEB a 2-0 lead.

Meanwhile, the Vulcans had runners on base in each of the first four innings but couldn't crack the scoreboard against the Pioneers' Abby Greer.  But in the fifth UH Hilo loaded the bases for Gaspar and the slugger responded with a double down the left field line to tie the game at 2-2. Isabelle Mejia then brought Gaspar home with an infield single to give her team a 3-2 lead.

But the Pioneers battled right back, chasing Vulcan reliever Leah Gonzales from the game with four hits and three runs, including a two-run single by Jennifer Palmares and the go-ahead base hit by Maddie Ramirez, putting East Bay back up 5-3. Berrelleza came into the game to get the final out of the inning.

Nonetheless, the Vulcan bats erupted again in the bottom of the sixth. Maria Steadmon led off the inning with a single and Skylar Thomas doubled her home to make it a one-run game (5-4). After Kiarra Lincoln walked, that brought Gaspar up to the plate again with two outs. She doubled down the left field line again, chasing home pinch runner Keana Reyes-Burke and Lincoln, giving the lead back to UHH, 6-5.

Back to Berrelleza, the freshman from Indio, Calif. She had appeared in ten other games this year, mostly as a pinch hitter, but this was her first pitching appearance, in a pretty tight spot. It apparently didn't phase her as she put the Pioneers down in order, four consecutive batters overall to pick up her first collegiate win in the pitching circle.

Thomas joined Gaspar with two doubles on the day, while Mejia and Mari Kawano added two hits each.

The Vulcan's scheduled game with Cal State Dominguez Hills was cancelled as rain pushed games back and wiped out others. On Sunday, UH Hilo is scheduled to play two more teams from the CCAA—Cal State San Bernardino at 10 am Pacific, and Cal State Monterey Bay at 4:30.