SAN RAFAEL, Calif.—One bad inning out of 13 played was the difference between a doubleheader sweep and split for the Hawaii Hilo softball team on Friday afternoon against Dominican.
Dominican scored five times in the fourth inning of the opener to win 5-3, before the Vulcans bounced back for a 11-3 mercy rule victory in the nightcap.
The Vulcans, who had a five-match win streak snapped in the opener, moved to 23-11 overall and to 11-5 in the Pacific West Conference. The Penguins are now 13-25 on the year and 4-14 in conference play.
In the opener, the Vulcans scored twice in the second inning and again in the third to take a 3-0 lead. Skyler Thomas drove in a run as did
Maria Steadmon in the second, and
Brinell Kaleikini doubled home a score in the third.
That might have normally been enough runs with Vulcan ace
Cyanne Fernandez pitching, but the Penguins rallied back in a big way in the fourth. They would push across five runs via five hits, including a two-run double by Haley Cheek. They also benefitted from a pair of Vulcans errors, chasing Fernandez from the game.
The Vulcans loaded the bases themselves in the fifth but couldn't score, and they got a runner to third base in the sixth, but again had no runs to show for it. In the seventh and final opportunity, Penguin pitcher Gaby Katafias put the visitors down in order for the 5-3 win.
Fernandez took the loss, only her fourth of the season (14-4) while Katafias improved to 8-11—allowing only four hits. Kaleikini had two of those four base knocks with a double and an RBI.
In the second game, the Vulcans got on the board in the top of the first after singles by
Mari Kawano,
Kiarra Lincoln and Kaleikini to take a 1-0 lead. They would never trail in the this game, adding three more in the second on
Bailey Gaspar's three-run double and two more runs in the fifth on
Danielle Antolin's double.
UH Hilo got the four runs that they would need for a TKO in the sixth when
Markie Okamoto drove in two with a single, as did Steadmon.
Meanwhile,
Leah Gonzales took to the pitcher's circle for the second time today and tossed a complete game for her fourth win of the year (4-2). In six innings, she allowed seven hits, two earned runs, walked two and struck out two. Including relief work in the first game, she pitched 8.2 innings on the day and gave up only two earned runs.
The Vulcans had 11 hits in the second game, three of them by Kawano and two by Gaspar. McKenzie Schumacher had three of Dominican's seven hits.
After 11 straight games on the road, the Vulcans now return to Hilo before embarking on a much shorter trip next week to Oahu to take on Hawai`i Pacific on Saturday.
