HILO, Hawai'i – Another wild day of softball as Hawai'i Hilo closed the weekend and regular season with a doubleheader sweep of HPU, 1-0 and 7-6, Sunday afternoon in Pacific West Conference action at the Vulcan Softball Field.

Following the pair of contests, the Vulcans celebrated their lone senior Maya Lee Saneishi.

With wins over Chaminade on Saturday, Hawai'i Hilo clinched one of four spots in the PacWest Conference Championships set for May 1-3 at Dominican in San Rafael, California.

GAME 1: HPU 0 - HAWAI'I HILO 1

• Kanoe Piltz continued to hit hot, going 3 for 3 with a RBI double slammed to left-center field in the fourth inning for the Vulcans' lone run of the game.
• Makena Nera scored all the way from first base on Piltz's hit, having reached base on a single to right field. The sophomore also collected two putouts and four assists at third base.
• Tehani Seto went the distance for the fifth time this season, going 7.0 innings with just four hits allowed in the shutout. HPU had just three runners reach scoring position but all were prevented from coming across the plate.

GAME 2: HPU 6 - HAWAI'I HILO 7 (8 INNINGS)

• Once again, the Vulcans took it to extra innings with an inter-island foe, but it was the Sharks who chipped away late in the game to force extended playing time in the final game of the regular season. Three timely hits in the top of the seventh scored a pair of runs as Hawai'i Hilo escaped with the bases juiced and the score still tied at 6-6.
• Victoria Macias drew a four-pitch lead-off walk in the bottom of the eighth and moved over to third base on a sac bunt from Nera and a single by Piltz, setting up Mia Joaquin's walk-off single on a screaming line drive hit at the third baseman. Joaquin had a 3-for-5 outing with a run scored.
• Madison Rabe had previously entered in the sixth inning in a rare save situation but ended up with her 10th win of the season in 2.2 innings of work, including going three-up-three-down in the top of the eighth.
• Rayna White went 3 for 3 with two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI on top of two walks drawn.

UP NEXT

Hawai'i Hilo moved to a 25-15 record (18-10 PacWest) while HPU moved to 9-31 overall (5-21 in conference).

Next stop for the Vulcans is the PacWest Conference Championship postseason tournament set for May 1-3 in San Rafael, California at Dominican. Joining them will be regular-season champ Concordia University Irvine and Azusa Pacific. Biola Dominican and Chaminade will battle it out for the final spot with only a handful of games left this week.

PACWEST HAWAI'I CHALLENGE

The Vulcans claimed the 2023-24 PacWest Hawai'i Challenge with a doubleheader sweep of Chaminade Saturday afternoon.

In an effort to elevate Hawai'i-based rivalries, the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge has awarded the top school in athletics competition among the state's Division II institutions going back to the late 1970s.

Comprising 10 sports that all three schools participate in, points are awarded from head-to-head Pacific West Conference matchups as well as final placements at conference-ending championship events. The team with the highest total gets three points while the second highest gets two and the third-place finisher receives one.

More information is available at HiloAthletics.com/PacWestHawaii.