HILO, Hawai`i—UH Hilo's bats went silent in the first game but then awakened with a loud bang in the nightcap as the Vulcans and Chaminade split a softball doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at the UH Hilo Softball Complex.

The Silverswords won the opener, 2-1, behind a two-hit pitching performance from Madelyn Stockslager, and the Vulcans rapped out nine hits and scored nine times in the nightcap for the five-inning mercy rule win, 9-1.

UH Hilo dropped to fourth place in the Pacific West Conference standings with the split, now at 22-10 in conference action and 29-16 overall. They are just percentage points behind third-place Biola (18-8) and a full game back of second-place Azusa Pacific (21-8). After today's games, Chaminade is 12-34 overall and 9-25 in the PacWest.

In the first game, the Vulcans had only one hit out of the infield—an RBI-single by Skylar Thomas in the second inning. That sharp single brought home Brinell Kaleikini, who had walked and was moved to second on Markie Okamoto's bunt, to give the home team a 1-0 lead.

That was all they needed until the fourth inning, with Vulcan ace Isabelle Mejia cruising with a one-hitter. But two swings changed everything in the fourth. First, Malia Moisa lined a single to left field. Senior catcher Kiana Ulufale followed with a blast over the leftfield fence, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.

Stockslager made that lead hold the rest of the way. She gave up only one more hit, an infield single to Kiarra Lincoln in the fifth, which also happened to be UHH's best chance to score. They had runners on second and third after a walk and a fielder's choice, but Stockslager worked out of that jam and put the Vulcans down in order in the sixth and seventh innings.

The sophomore improved to 10-15 with the win, fanning six in route. Mejia took just her third loss of the season (11-3).

The second game was completely different. The Vulcans scored twice in the second inning, three times in the third and clinched it in the bottom of the fifth with four runs.

UH Hilo used back-to-back doubles by Okamoto and Thomas in the second, both of them one-hop shots off the wall. In the third, two Chaminade errors helped fuel a rally that included RBI-singles by Okamoto and Kaleikini to give the hosts a 5-0 lead.

In the fifth, Mejia walked and Kaleikini singled, setting the table for Alana Alvarez to drive in a run through the left side. Danielle Antolin walked home a run, Lincoln drove home another with a single and senior Kayla Requelman symbolically scored the winning run on a wild pitch to cap the 9-1 day.

Valerie Alvarado took the win in the pitcher's circle, improving to 9-5 on the season. She gave up five hits in five innings of work, allowing one run, walked three and struck out four.  Lincoln, Kaleikini and Okamoto had two hits each, and the sophomore catcher (Okamoto) drove in two runs.

After the game, seniors Antolin, Mejia, Requelman and Maria Steadmon were honored on Senior Day.

The Vulcans will wrap up the regular season next weekend on Oahu, with another twinbill against Chaminade on Saturday and a Sunday doubleheader with Hawai`i Pacific.