Two home runs and 11 base hits isn’t what fans are used to seeing from opponents at University of Hawaii at Hilo softball games, but the Concordia Irvine Eagles did just that Saturday to ruin what was a good start for the Vulcans after a 21-day layoff.
It all added up for a split in the first Pacific West Conference doubleheader of the season for the Vulcans (7-5, 1-1 in PWC), who took a tightly played 1-0 win in the opener and lost an 8-1 thrashing by the Eagles (11-7, 1-3) at the UHH softball field.
The two meet again Sunday with the first game scheduled for noon, the second to follow approximately 30 minutes later.
“We just need to play more,” said Hawaii Hilo coach Callen Perreira. “They are a very good team, as you saw, their pitching is at the top of the league and we saw it.
“It’s not an excuse, but we haven’t played in three weeks and it’s going to take the bats a little bit to get the timing going,” he said. “They caught up to our pitching in the second game, we missed some spots, but the more we play, the better we’ll get.”
Billi Derleth (2-2), started the second game and took the loss after allowing five earned runs and seven hits in the first home start for the sophomore who led the staff in innings pitches and wins a year ago.
Ryann Ferguson and Amy Eilfson each hit home runs for the Eagles. Ferguson was 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored and a run batted in, while Eilefson was 2-for-4 with 3 RBI and a run scored.
It was a good crowd with stands on both sides filled with fans from the respective teams and a dozen or so fans on the outfield berm. They didn’t “fill the hill” as Perreira had hoped, but that might come in time.
“I was disappointed for Grayson in the first game,” said Concordia coach Crystal Rosenthal, “I thought she pitched well enough to win, but we didn’t help her much at the plate.
“I was happy with our response in the second game,” she said, “and I’m just hoping we can keep swinging the bats again tomorrow and on the rest of the trip.”
After four games here, the Eagles head to Oahu for three more doubleheaders before going back to California.
VULCANS 1, EAGLES 0
The first game featured last year’s top returning pitcher, Concordia’s Grayson Harvey, and the conferences’s leading slugger, the Vulcans’ Bailey Gasper. Harvey won the first battle, getting Gaspar on a called third strike, perfectly placed low on the outside corner, her first strikeout of the game. Later, Gaspar singled and advanced on an outfield throw to the plate that cut down the potential go-ahead run at the plate.
But it was more than a battle between those two, as Hawaii-Hilo’s Danielle Wilson gave as good as she got and wound up with the victory after Harvey threw wildly to first base on a ball hit back at her by pinch-hitter Amanda Lara. Cristina Menjivar had opened the inning with abase hot to right and advanced on Danielle Pulido’s sacrifice bunt.
The win improved Wilson’s early season record to 4-0, while dropping Harvey to 5-4.
“We came out with a lot of confidence on the field today,” Wilson said. “My teammates knew I’d be pitching and I think each of them came over to give me some encouragement.”
As as a senior, Wilson has added a rise ball she throws with more efficiency this season, and she has clearly opened the year hitting her spots, moving the ball inside and out.
“I tried to pitch them differently each time,” she said. “If they hit the inside pitch the first time, I didn’t pitch inside the second time, just trying not to let them get comfortable.”
Wilson allowed juts two hits, struck out five and walked only one batter. The Vulcans had four hits off Harvey, but the winning run was scored who struck out seven, including four in a row at one stretch, but the winning run came on an error off the bat of pinch-hitter Lara who started in an 0-2 hole.
“I thought I’d look at the first pitch, and it was a strike,” Lara said. “(Harvey) is a rise ball pitcher, so I thought that’s what she would throw next. I didn’t swing and it was also a strike.
“After that, I thought I better just hit it somewhere,” she said. “It went back to the pitcher but I wanted to run it out hard just in case.”
Just in case was the winning idea.
