IRVINE, Calif.--Visiting UH Hilo had No. 2 nationally ranked and undefeated Concordia staring at their first loss before back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the sixth by Missy Nemeth and Rylie Rohr pushed the Eagles to a 2-1 victory in game one of a softball doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Eagles Field.
That same Concordia duo would go yard in consecutive at bats again in the second game, breaking open a 1-0 contest for the second time and an eventual 4-0 twinbill sweep. The lazer hot Eagles improved to an absurd 30-0 on the season and to 18-0 in the Pacific West Conference. The Vulcans, despite the game effort, fell to an even 11-11 on the year and to 9-9 in conference play.
The two squads will play two more tomorrow, with game one slated to start at noon Pacific time (9 am HT).
In the opener, UH Hilo's
Alexis Lacy and CUI's Erika Morris were hooked up in a pitcher's duel through the first five innings of play. Then with the score knotted at 0-0, UHH's
Nikki Zielinski put the Vulcans on the board with a long ball over the fence to give her team a 1-0 lead with just six outs away from an upset. It was just the second home run of the year against Concordia starter Morris and it was Zielinski's second HR of the season.
But the Eagles finally got to Lacy in the bottom half of the sixth via the jacks from Nemeth and Rohr. Morris departed in the top of the seventh, and despite giving up a pair of walks Katlin Entrup worked around the those base runners and fanned the final Vulcan to end the game. Morris improved to 7-0 and Entrup earned her third save of the season.
Lacy was the hard-luck loser against one of the best teams in the nation. The freshman allowed six hits, did not walk a batter and fanned four. She fell to 4-4 on the season, but has a minimal ERA of just 1.27. The Vulcans had six hits against Morris, two each by Zielinski and
Jayda Favela.
In the second game, Entrup headed to the pitcher's circle again and kept the Vulcans in check. UH Hilo had their best scoring opportunity in the first inning, when a walk, error and sacrifice put runners on second and third, but Entrup buckled down and got out of the jam. She wouldn't allow a Vulcan runner past second base after that.
Meanwhile, the Eagles scored their four runs all with two outs. In the third, Lauren Lopez singled and Sydney Sprinkle doubled her home. In the fifth, Sprinkle singled and Nemeth homered her home. Rohr followed with her second roundtripper of the day for the 4-0 lead that held the rest of the afternoon.Â
Entrup gave up just one hit in five innings of work and Cortney Koelmans tossed the final two innings, also allowing only one hit. Vulcan freshman
Tehani Seto took the loss in her third start of the season, despite giving up just one run through the first four innings of play.
After Saturday's doubleheader against the Eagles, the Vulcans will continue their long southern California road trip with four games on Monday and Tuesday against 2021 NCAA national runner-up Biola.
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