Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
The University of Hawaii at Hilo women’s softball team finished 1-2 on the first day of the 11th Tournament of Champions, a 24-team event in Turlock, Calif.
The highly competitive tournament includes many of the top NCAA Division II teams in the West Region. It is hosted by Cal State Stanislaus and presented by Mizuno.
On Friday, the Vulcans fell to San Francisco State 4-2 and Cal State East Bay 6-1 before upsetting 20th-ranked UC San Diego 7-3 in Pool B action.
UHH (15-13 overall) finishes pool play today with games against Cal State Monterey Bay at 10:15 a.m. Hawaii times and Sonoma State at 1:15 p.m HST. The tournament runs through Sunday with consolation, platinum, silver and gold bracket games.
• UHH 7, UC San Diego 3: Freshman Ashley Nelson hurled a four-hitter and Nicole Alconcel helped wake up the offense as the Vulcans avoided falling to .500.
The Vulcans, limited to a combined three runs in their first two tournament games, scored three runs in the first inning and two in the second to grab a 5-0 lead. The Southern California squad rallied for three runs in the bottom of the second inning. But the Vuls plated two more runs in the fifth and let the rock-steady Nelson (5-2) finish the job.
Nelson pitched seven innings and struck out five with two walks. Jennifer Manuel (3-2) took the loss for the Tritons (27-12).
In the first inning, senior Nicole Alconcel’s two-run triple was the key hit after senior Bryanna Hardy doubled and came home on junior Asha Prithviraj’s single.
In the second inning, Hardy (2 for 4) had an RBI double and scored on senior Aisha Sueda’s bunt fielder’s choice to extend the lead to 5-0.
In the fifth inning, Alconcel hit a two-run homer to close UHH’s scoring. She finished with three hits and four RBIs while Hardy added two doubles to the Vulcans’ nine-hit attack.
UHH 320 020 0 — 7 9 3
UCSD 030 000 0 — 3 4 0
• San Francisco State 4, UHH 2: Ashey Huff, Jordan Brenner and Kylie Herrada each had two hits and Lucy Fernandez drove in three runs to lead the Gators, who outhit the Vulcans 10-9.
Hardy led UHH with three hits and Prithviraj had two. Sueda added a hit and drove in a run.
Marisa Ibarra (5-6) went the distance for the Gators and picked up the win. She scattered nine hits while striking out five and walking three. Senior Jessica Pepin (3-6) also pitched seven innings and took the loss. She gave up 10 hits with no strikeouts and a walk.
UHH 000 000 2 — 2 9 0
SFS 310 000 x — 4 10 1
• Cal State East Bay 6, UHH 1: Taila Ferrari pitched a four-hitter and Taryn Thomas and Taylor Neumann each drove in two runs to lead the Pioneers. Ferrari (7-3) struck out three and walked one in a strong performance. She earned the win while outdueling Vulcan ace Amber Waracka (7-5).
Waracka went the distance, striking out seven and walking four.
No one paired hits for UHH. Prithviraj had a hit and drove in the Vulcans’ only run, in the first inning.
CS-East Bay 032 001 0 — 6 5 3
UHH 100 000 0 — 1 4 1