KANEOHE, Hawai`i.—If these do end up being the final games of the 2019 season for the Hawai`i Hilo softball team, it will be a pretty solid memory.

The Vulcans took two games from rival Hawai`i Pacific by the identical scores of 3-2 on Sunday afternoon at Howard Okita Field and hopefully kept their post-season playoff hopes alive with the twin killing.

The Vulcans improved to 31-17 overall with the wins and to 24-11 in Pacific West Conference play. They also moved into second place in the PacWest, only behind champion Concordia, who has already clinched the title and automatic NCAA tournament berth that goes with it. It was the first time in recent memory that the Vulcans have swept all four games in the season series against the Sharks and the first time in many years for them to win both games played on Oahu.

The Sharks are now 31-24 on the year and 22-14 in the PacWest.

Next, the Vulcans will sit back and wait for the rest of the cards to be played. The next NCAA Division II regional ranking comes out on Wednesday, and the final listing will be announced on Sunday, May 5. This next week, both the GNAC and CCAA have their conference tournaments from which the champions will get an automatic berth. Eight total teams from the three conferences will qualify for the post-season.

On Sunday, the Vulcans received solid pitching performances from Valerie Alvarado and Isabelle Mejia, and in both games rallied back from deficits to secure the pair of 3-2 wins.

In the first game, Alvarado kept the Sharks off the board for the first four innings, taking a 1-0 lead into the fifth. The Vulcans had scratched across a run in the third without needing a hit against HPU ace Jordan Curry, using a pair of walks and an error.

In the fifth, the home team got on the board. A Mary Dungy triple and a wild pitch plated two runs, but the Vulcans answered with a two-out rally in the sixth. Hits by Kiarra Lincoln and Rayla Jacobs-Kea, along with another Shark error, tied the game at 2-2.

The Vulcans took the lead in the seventh, again without a hit, and then Alvarado put the Sharks down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win.

HPU had four errors in the contest and Curry walked seven batters to take the rare loss (19-9). Jacobs-Kea had two of UH Hilo's five hits. Alvarado improved to 10-5 on the season, allowing only four hits, four walks and she struck out two.

With rain having prompted a later start to the first game, the second game was played under a curfew of 5:15 pm. That may have played into UH Hilo's favor.

HPU took the first lead in the third inning against Vulcan starter Mejia, using back-to-back doubles by Dungy and Curry to bring home one run, and Brandi Leong brought home another with a single to make it 2-0.

With time beginning to wind down, it looked like that might be enough as the Vulcans had yet to solve Shark pitcher Emilee Leonard, who had only given up two hits through four innings. But things imploded for Leonard and HPU in the fifth, when walks to Danielle Antolin and Jacobs-Kea set the table for Mejia, who helped herself with a double to bring in both runners and tie the game at 2-2.

Vevesi Liilii followed with another double, this one down the rightfield line to bring home Mejia and give the Vulcans a 3-2 lead.

In what turned out to be the final inning, Mejia used some good defense to wrap up the contest. Lincoln made an over-the shoulder catch in shallow left field, Mejia snared a shot back to the pitcher's circle and Maria Steadmon made a running catch in left field to wrap up the inning and the game.

Mejia earned the win to improve to 12-4 during her senior season. She allowed five hits in five innings, walked two and struck out one.

Mejia and the Vulcans will now sit back and watch, hopeful that their season isn't over.