HAYWARD, Calif.—It will not come as any huge surprise to fans who follow Pacific West Conference softball closely that Hawai`i Hilo defeated Holy Names in a pair of games on Tuesday at Pioneer Softball Field, 11-8 and 3-1.
After all, Holy Names is still looking for their second victory of the season (1-21 overall/1-9 PacWest), and the Vulcans just won their 20
th to improve to 20-10 on the year and to 8-4 in conference play.
But this is why they play the game(s). The Hawks nearly pulled off an upset, not once, but twice, knocking on the door in both games before finally giving up the ghost.
The first game began according to form, at least if that form had heavily favored UH Hilo moving to an easy win over a team with just one win all season. But it ended up being anything other than easy.
The Vulcans took an early 6-0 lead, after scoring once in the first on
Darian Obara's RBI-single (Skyler Thomas had doubled), and they added five more in the third.
Brinell Kaleikini doubled home a run, as did
Kacie Freudenberger. Obara then sent two more Vulcans home with her triple, and she closed out the inning by scoring on a wild pitch.
But the Hawks didn't roll over. They would put four runs on the board in the bottom half of the inning, thanks to a two-run double by Kiana Evans and a two-run home run by Mattea Carveiro, chasing Vulcan ace
Cyanne Fernandez from the game.
Holy Names would add another run in the fourth on Jazmine Lewis' double to make it 6-5, only to see UH Hilo seemingly put the game away in the top of the fifth on two-RBI singles by
Kiarra Lincoln and Kaleikini to take a 10-5 lead.
But again, the Hawks answered in the bottom of the inning. A hit and two Vulcan errors set the table for Haighley Kissee's RBI double, and now it was 10-8 UH Hilo. The Vulcans would add a run in the sixth, and then reliever
Leah Gonzales stepped up to shut the Hawks down in order in the sixth and seventh innings.
Gonzales got credit for the win, her second in as many games, to improve 3-2 on the season. The Vulcans had 14 hits in the game, nearly needing them all. Two each were rapped out by
Mari Kawano,
Bailey Gaspar,
Isabelle Mejia, Kaleikini and Obara.
The second game featured solid pitching, with Mejia toeing the pitching rubber for the Vulcans, Chailey Stewart for the Hawks. UH Hilo got on the board in the first inning after a Lincoln double and Gaspar RBI-single, and Kaleikini then launched a two-run homer in the third (her fifth of the year) to give UHH a 3-0 lead.
Holy Names kept the pressure on, putting two runners on base in the third and fourth innings, and in the fifth Mejia survived a walk and a triple by Kayla Hall without allowing the Hawks to get on the scoreboard. Two more HNU runners got on base in the sixth, but could not score.
In the seventh, Gonzales came in to spell Mejia, and got the first two batters of the inning. But true to the day, the Hawks wouldn't go away easily. Four straight singles brought home one run before Gonzales got the final out of the game on a ground ball for the 3-1 victory.
Mejia pitched six, eventful shutout innings to get the win to improve to 3-4 on the year. She allowed five hits, walked three and struck out one. Gonzales picked up her third save of the year. The Vulcans had six hits in the game, but no player had more than one.
The Vulcans and Hawks will play again on Wednesday, with 1 pm Pacific the start time for the doubleheader.
