SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--Battling from behind in both games, UH Hilo came up just short twice during the opening day of the Pacific West Conference AQ Pod Series at Penguin Field.

The Vulcans lost the opener 2-1 to No. 1 regionally ranked Concordia, and then fell in the afternoon game to host Dominican, 5-2. The Vulcans will face the same two teams tomorrow, facing the Eagles at 11 am PT and Dominican at 3 pm.

Concordia and Dominican will play in the late game to wrap up the first day. The winner of the Pod Series (team with the best record) will gain the PacWest automatic qualifier to next week's NCAA West Region tournament in Irvine, Calif. Concordia is now 27-11 in 2021, UH Hilo is 16-10 and Dominican is 17-16.

In the opener, Concordia Rylie Rohr hit a line drive home run for the first run of the game in the fifth inning and McKinsey Thorpe drove home an insurance run with a single later in the inning to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Those were the first two runs scored against Vulcan starter Valerie Alvarado, who pitched well to that point. As it turns out, the Eagles would need both those runs.

In the top of the seventh, the UHH's Darian Obara drew a lead walk against Kelsea Sweeney, who had given up just one hit through six innings. Sweeney then hunkered down to get the next two batters, but Chloe Domingo then laced a double to bring home Obara to make it 2-1. Skylar Thomas then walked, ending the Sweeney's day. 

That brought in Eagle All-American Callie Nunes to close things out. The hard-throwing righthander got ahead in the count against Nikki Zielinski (1-2), but the Vulcan DP then ripped a single to centerfield to load the bases. But the Vulcans left the bags juiced when Nunes fanned the final batter to close the game at 2-1.

Nemeth picked up the win to improve to 8-3 on the season. The senior transfer from Idaho State pitched 6.2 innings, gave up just two hits and fanned two. Nunes got her third save. Alvarado was the hard luck loser, giving up five hits in six innings, fanning five. She is now 4-4. 

In the second game, Dominican jumped on Vulcan starter Leah Gonzales early. Alyssa Ramirez hit a two-out double, Peyton Mott walked and then Lauren Lapinid hit a line shot that just cleared the leftfield fence to give the home team (visitors on the scoreboard) a 3-0 lead. 

The Vulcans got a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Kiarra Lincoln doubled, moved to third on Obara's sacrifice bunt and then jogged home on Markie Okamoto's sacrifice fly (3-1). 

Both pitchers, Gonzales and DUC's Shelby Keltner, settled in for the next four innings after that, putting zeros on the board. But in the top of the sixth, the Penguins struck again. A single by Lapinid and a triple by McKenna Daley brought in one run, and a bunt off the bat of Alyssa Waltman brought home another for a commanding 5-1 lead.

Vevesi Liilii had a two-out solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to make it 5-2, and the Vulcans made it more interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Zielinski walked to lead off the stanza and Angel Prewitt singled Zielinski to third, taking second on the throw. But with runners at second and third, Keltner struck out Lincoln and got Obara to pop up to end the game.

Lapinid had two hits for the Penguins, scored twice and drove in three. Keltner won her ninth game of the year (9-8), allowing two runs in seven innings and striking out six. Gonzales took just her second loss of the season (7-2). Prewitt was 2-for-3 to lead the Vulcans.

You can follow Thursday's games via Live Stats or audio broadcast at hiloathletics.com. Here are the two podcasts from Wednesday's games.

http://penguinradio.dominican.edu/2020softball/210512_sb_cui_VS_hilo.mp3

http://penguinradio.dominican.edu/2020softball/210512_sb_hilo_VS_du.mp3