BELMONT, Calif.—Leah Gonzales collected two wins in the pitching circle and Bailey Gaspar bashed her 13^th and 14^th home runs of the year to help Hawai`i Hilo to 6-4 and 11-0 softball wins over Notre Dame de Namur on Sunday afternoon at Notre Dame High School.

The Vulcans, ranked No. 8 in the NCAA West Region, won their fifth and sixth straight games to improve to 29-13 on the season and to 17-7 in the Pacific West Conference. UH Hilo remains in fifth place in the tight PacWest, but only two games in the loss column out of first place. The Argonauts fell to 11-40 overall and to 7-23 in conference play.

On Tuesday, the Vulcans will face off with Academy of Art, ranked No. 9 in the region but with a PWC record of 18-6, they are a game in front of UHH in the league race.

Despite the lopsided score in the second game, UH Hilo was just two outs away from a loss and a split in the first game against NDNU.

Senior pitcher Cyanne Fernandez got the Vulcans off to a good start on defense, holding the Argonauts scoreless through four innings. In the third, UHH put three runs on the scoreboard when Kiarra Lincoln hit her second home run of the year and Brinell Kaleikini had an RBI double to make it 3-0.

But NDNU retaliated in the bottom half, scoring three times via three hits and an error, including a two-run double by Lauryn Zabat to tie it at 3-3.

Gonzales entered the game in the sixth. Three straight singles and a hit batter later a run crossed the plate to put the home team in front for the first time on the day (4-3), and they also still had the bases loaded with no outs.

But Gonzales would get the next three outs and many more the rest of the day. Still, the Vulcans trailed by a run in the top of the seventh with one out until Gaspar came to the plate. Although not a walk-off this time (she has three this year), her home run kept the Vulcans alive and sent them on to extra innings.

In the eighth, the Vulcans continued to hit, with Markie Okamoto and Mari Kawano contributing singles, and Gaspar sealed the deal with an RBI-double to make it 6-4. Gonzales did the rest in the bottom of the eighth to secure the win.

Kawano and Gaspar had three hits, while Kaleikini and Okamoto added a pair to pace the offense. Fernandez (no decision) gave up two earned runs in five innings and Gonzales gave up one in three innings of work.

In the 11-0 second game, Gaspar made sure that there was no drama before the Argonauts could even come to bat.

Lincoln and Kawano opened the game with single-double, and Gaspar then launched her 14^th home run of the year, tying her own school record. Isabelle Mejia added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0 in the first.  In the third, UHH added two more runs on Okamoto's two-run single, and the Vulcans then blew the game wide open in the seventh with four more runs on five hits. That included back-to-back triples by Kaleikini and Nikki Corla, and doubles by Danielle Antolin and Lincoln.

On defense Gonzales pitched a gem, improving to 7-2 on the season and dropping her ERA to 3.30. She pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just five hits. On the day, she threw ten innings, allowing ten hits and just one earned run.

Lincoln had three hits in the second game, while Kawano and Okamoto had two. On the day, Kawano had five hits, while Lincoln, Okamoto, and Gaspar had four. Gaspar had the two home runs, a double, and five RBI. The senior slugger has 47 RBI on the season, just seven shy of tying the school record in that category (54).

Tuesday's games against Academy of Art will be played at Mission Blue Field in Brisbane, Calif. Start time for the doubleheader is noon.