(photo of Darian Obara courtesy of Kelsey Walling and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald)

HILO, Hawai`i--With a mini slump now fully in the rearview mirror, the UH Hilo softball team will take a 16-8 record into next week's Pacific West Conference Pod AQ Series in San Rafael, Calif.

The Vulcans finished the regular season on Friday afternoon with their third straight mercy rule victory over Hawaii Pacific, this time taking down the Sharks 9-1 in six innings. The Vulcans will now play a round robin series (two games each) against host Dominican (NorCal Champ) and SoCal Champ Concordia. The games will be played at Penguin Field, Wednesday and Thursday at times to be announced.

The Vulcans had dropped their last three of four games coming into this final home three-game series. UH Hilo got back on track by winning all three in shorter time, 11-3, 10-2 and 9-1.

UH Hilo rapped out 13 hits today, including two each by Kiarra Lincoln, Markie Okamoto, Skylar Thomas, Nikki Zielinski, Kamalei Labasan and Angel Prewitt. Zielinski also scored three times, Labasan drove in two runs and Prewitt had a collegiate career-best four RBI.

Leah Gonzales got the win in the pitching circle, tossing all six innings and allowing just the one run, four hits and she fanned three. Perhaps most impressively, the senior was able to work around seven walks, using a double play behind her and tough outs when she needed them. 

UH Hilo's big inning was the fourth, when they took a 4-1 lead and advanced it to 8-1 with six hits and four plate crossings. Five of those hits were singles and one was an RBI-double by Labasan. In the sixth, the Vulcans clinched the mercy rule when Zielinski singled and moved to third on a wild pitch and a fielder's choice. Prewitt then brought her home with an RBI-single to ice the game.

The Vulcans will depart this weekend for the bay area, waiting to hear their schedule. The winner of the PWC Pod AQ Series receives the league's automatic berth into the NCAA West Region tournament in Irvine, Calif., May 19-21.