HONOLULU — The UH-Hilo softball team traveled Oahu to wrap up its season road slate over the weekend, and suffered narrow losses to Chaminade in Pacific West Conference action Saturday afternoon at Silversword Field at Sand Island Park.
Game one saw the Vulcans rally late from down two scores to send the game to extra innings as the Silverswords managed to get the walk-off win, 9-8, in the bottom of the eighth inning.
In Game two, UH-Hilo again rallied late to stay within striking distance, but Chaminade re-upped its lead to extend past the Vulcans, 9-4.
UH-Hilo now sits at the No. 8 spot in the PacWest regular season standings with Chaminade slotted at fifth. It’s going to be a tight race for the top four qualifying spots for next month’s PacWest Championships.
In game one — Jayda Favela had herself a four-for-five day with one walk, one steal, three runs and two RBI highlighted by a solo inside-the-park home run down the right-field corner to help spark the Vulcans in the top of the seventh inning.
Rayna-Marie White’s lone hit of the game was a triple to deep right-center field in the seventh inning to set up Lexie Tilton’s game-tying sacrifice fly out to center field. White also had five putouts in right field.
Isabel Rodriguez brought in Chaminade’s game-winning run with an RBI single through the right side to score Kailah Gates-Coyaso, who reached on a lead-off single.
Chloe Domingo batted three for four with two doubles to extend her team-leading total to 13.
Trinity Favela recorded seven putouts at second base while batting one for three with an RBI in the third inning.
After falling down 3-0 early in game two, the Vulcans responded with four consecutive hits to bring in a pair of runs to make it a one-score deficit, but the Silverswords extended their lead with a three-hit two-out rally to make it a 6-2 game.
UH-Hilo looked to get things going in the top of the sixth with three early hits to add another pair of runs, but that would be it as Chaminade again plated three runs in the bottom half of the inning to re-extend the score to its final mark of 9-4.
Dyoni Garcia batted four for four with a run scored after leading off the top of the fourth with a single.
Domingo went two for four at the plate with a run scored while adding six assists and a putout at third base.
Chastity McKean and Rodriguez each had three-hit outings for the Silverswords.
UH-Hilo fell to 12-23 overall (7-14 Pacific West Conference) while Chaminade moved to a 13-14 record (21-21 overall).
UH-Hilo will conclude the regular season on Saturday and Sunday at home, against Chaminade and HPU.
The four-team PacWest Championships is set for May 3–5 in La Mirada, California at Biola University.