Waipahu, HI- Vince Lombardi once said, “If you believe in yourself and have the courage, the determination, the dedication, the competitive drive and if you are willing to sacrifice the little things in life and pay the price for the things that are worthwhile, it can be done." The Swords believed they could win against Dixie State and it showed, they played great defense and for the most part hit the ball fairly well, unfortunately for them, the softball gods were not on their side and they lost 6 to2 and 3 to 1 today at CORP field.
Chaminade had their hands full coming into tonight's game. The Red Storm of Dixie came into the game 21 and 3 and 10 and 2 in conference. Their only two losses in the Pac West were to Hawaii Pacific University who is ranked # 1 in conference.
The first game of the day Chaminade started off with the Swords giving up 3 runs to the first 5 batters. CUH got focused though, and later on gave up 3 more runs during the latter part of the game that cost them the W. Chaminade put together a rally of their own in the bottom of the 4th inning by scoring two runs. However, the Red Storm proved to be who Chaminade thought they were coming into the game; a great team with a lot of talent. The team didn't give up anymore runs and for the most part shut down the Silverswords offense and their own offense caught fire and sealed the deal for the victory.
Chelsi Walls is charged with the loss. She faced 34 batters, gave up 9 hits, 3 earned runs, walked 4 and struck out 1. .
Game # 2- The second game was one of the best games of the year. Chaminade played with the heart of lion in this one. Chaminade would only trail by 1 run headed into the bottom of the 6th inning. That inning CUH tied up the game, thanks in large part to a deep fly ball smashed into left field by Skye Virtdues, that hit scored Erin Keelan from third and tied up the game headed into the last inning of play. Unfortunately for the Chaminade softball team and its supporters, the Red Storm of Dixie State had no intention on this losing game and started the inning with double to center field. The next batter sacrificed bunted and advanced that runner to third and the next batter singled, scoring the runner from third. Dixie went on to score one more run and as said earlier, won the game 3 to 1.
Kasy'e Lalau is charged with the loss. She faced 29 batters, gave up 7 hits and 3 earned runs. She only had one walk on the day and she did not strike anyone out in all 7 innings of play.
With the win Chaminade improves to 4-18 on the season. The Swords square off against Academy of Art University at Central Oahu Regional Park (CORP), on Thursday March 19th, First pitch is set for 4:30PM HT. This is a double header match up against the Urban Knights of AAU.
