The UH-Hilo softball team was rolling along again when Notre Dame de Namur base runner Toni Cardoza ventured off first and just stopped. So to did the Vulcans’ fun and games, at least for a while. ADVERTISING The UH-Hilo softball
The UH-Hilo softball team was rolling along again when Notre Dame de Namur base runner Toni Cardoza ventured off first and just stopped. So to did the Vulcans’ fun and games, at least for a while.
One protest and mini-tirade later by coach Peejay Brun, Angela Aguinaga lay on the ground by home plate in the bottom of the seventh, mixing in laughter and tears, after she was hit in the leg with a pitch. Symbolic of her team as a whole, Aguinaga picked herself up off the ground, for the second time Sunday, and she eventually raced home with the winning run.
Ho-hum, just another sweep for the homestanding Vulcans, who won 2-0 before surviving a 7-6 adventure to run their winning streak to 12.
“I remember coach telling me she had a runner for me,” Aguinaga said. “I said no, I’m going to run for myself.”
The senior moved to second on a groundout, and when Brittany Huff served a two-out single to center, Aguinaga said she never even so much as glanced at Brun before scoring a run that ensured UH-Hilo wouldn’t let a game it once thought it had in the bag get away.
“We were a little complacent and that’s something I know this team can’t do, but I know this team has a lot of fight,” Aguinaga said. “We’re always going to come back hard.”
She and Huff were proof positive of that as the first-place Vulcans (16-5, 8-0 Pacific West Conference) secured their fourth doubleheader sweep in as many tries at home.
Huff’s two-out error in the sixth allowed the Argonauts (1-8, 0-4) to take a 6-5 lead, but the senior second baseman stopped further damage with a diving catch on a pop fly to end the inning.
“I have a good thing with short memory,” said Huff, who was 3 for 4 with two RBIs. “I let my team down so I had to pick the team back up.”
Of her game-winning hit: “Coach says to have a plan, so I focused on the outside pitch, and that’s what I got.”
In the opener, Aguinaga hit her first home run of the season to back a gem by freshman Billi Derleth, who tossed a four-hit shutout and struck six with only one walk.
Aguinaga had a much more eventful second game, which Derleth (8-3) won in relief.
Its five-run lead gone, the Vulcans seemed to be unraveling in the top of the fifth. Shortstop Victoria Garcia made the final out on a catch in short center in which she collided with Aguinaga, who hurt her left ankle, right knee and neck on the play. Add her left shin on the hit by pitch to her list of pains.
“I’m feeling hurt and very beat up, but I feel very happy with the way we came out today,” said Aguinaga, who can rest up as the Vulcans prepare to face Dominican in home doubleheader Saturday.
Notre Dame de Namur tied the game on an unusual play in the fourth. With Alessanda Giannavola on third, Cardoza went halfway to second and stopped, baiting the Vulcans to come and tag her for the final out. They eventually did, but Giannavola scored in the meantime, and Brun had a fit, claiming Cardoza was out of the base paths.
There was 10-15 minute delay as Brun filed a protest that, for all intents and purposes, is now moot.
“Getting mad and losing a bit of control are two different things,” Brun said. “I need to work on that.”
UH-Hilo first baseman Cristina Menjivar was the only player with two hits on either team in the first game, and the Vulcans appeared to be in for an easy day after Garcia (2 for 4) led off the bottom of the first with a home run to center. Brandi Wilson (2 for 3) tacked on a two-run double and Amanda Lara and Huff added run-scoring singles for a 5-0 lead.
Argonauts pitcher Erin Powers toughened after her 41-pitch first, and UH-Hilo starter Danielle Wilson was chased after allowing the first two runners to reach in the fourth.
Cyanne Fernandez got four outs, and Derleth worked 2 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run and two hits with a walk and a strikeout in lowering her ERA to 2.18.
After getting outdueled by Derleth in the first game, Shelby Reali (1-6) took her second loss of the day in relief.
There was a slight detour en route to this sweep, but all’s well that ends well for the Vulcans.
“It was huge for them to be able to get through that,” Brun said. “We have to learn not to let up so much as we did.”
