LA MIRADA, Calif.—In a match-up between two Pacific West Conference contenders, host Biola and visiting Hawai`i Hilo traded thumpings on Tuesday night at Freedom Field.
The Eagles won the opener 10-5 behind the strength of 13 hits, but the Vulcans rode the pitching of
Valerie Alvarado and 12 hits of their own in the nightcap to mercy rule their hosts, 11-3. The two teams will square off again on Wednesday with the same 4 pm (Pacific) start time.
The Vulcans, picked to finish fourth in the conference preseason poll, moved to 17-5 on the season and to 12-2 in the PacWest. Biola, picked second, is now an even 10-10 overall and 5-5 in league action.
Alvardo, pitching in her hometown of La Mirada under the lights, stepped up and shut down Eagle bats, which had been hot earlier in the day. She didn't allow a runner past first base until the fifth inning, and by then her teammates had given her an 8-0 lead.
UH Hilo scored all eight of those runs in the third inning.
Skylar Thomas led off the inning by reaching base via an error. Nine batters later, she helped put the exclamation mark on the outburst by bashing a three-run homer, her third roundtripper of the season.
In between,
Vevesi Liilii had an RBI-single and
Isabelle Mejia had a two-run double to help fuel the rally. Before it was over, eight Vulcans had crossed the plate and seven had supplied hits.
That looked that would be all UHH and Alvarado would need, but in the bottom of the fifth the Eagles stayed alive. After a walk and a hit batter, Biola's Andi Hormel hit a single to keep her team out of the mercy rule verdict at 8-1.
UH Hilo would return the Vulcans to that possibility in the sixth. Base hits by
Kiarra Lincoln and
Maria Steadmon, along with an RBI-double by
Markie Okamoto, chased three runs across to make it 11-1. Alvarado got the first two outs in the bottom half of the inning, before a hit batter and a two-run shot by Areana Ramos made it interesting again (11-3), but Alvarado got the final out to end the game.
UHH had 12 hits in the second game, two each by Lincoln, Liilii, Okamoto and Steadmon. Alvarado won her third straight game to improve to 5-2, allowing only four hits in six innings.
In the first game, the Vulcans played from behind most of the contest. The Eagles got to UH Hilo ace Mejia for a run in the first, two more in the third and another in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. Meanwhile the Vulcans put multiple runners in scoring position but couldn't get anyone home.
That changed in the fifth, when UH Hilo exploded for four runs. The big blow was Okamoto's three-run double to tie the contest at 4-4. But Biola quickly squashed Vulcan hopes in the bottom half with six runs, chasing Mejia, using a three-run bomb by Kayla Neff to provide part of the damage.
UH Hilo had just five hits in the game, two of them by Steadmon. Neff had a double, home run and five RBI in the opener for the Eagles. Mejia suffered her first loss of the season and is now 7-1 on the year.
