Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 HILO, HI – The Chaminade softball team continued its historic run in the Pac West standings, sweeping conference-leading Hawai'i-Hilo at UH-Hilo Softball Field, winning Game 1, 1-0 in eight innings, then capped its first-ever sweep of the Vulcans in Hilo with a 5-4 win in the second.
The Silverswords improved to 25-17 and 17-9 on the season, moving a half-game ahead of Notre Dame de Namur for fourth place in the conference. The Vulcans fell to 35-17 and 21-7, dropping them into second behind Grand Canyon.
Rayna Strom-Okimoto (Aiea, HI/Aiea), the two-time Hawai'i Tourism Authority Pac West Player of the Week, homered with two outs in the top of the eighth for the only run of Game 1. Pitcher
Brett Aspel (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Union) tossed eight innings of four-hit, shutout ball to capture the win. The sophomore struck out four and walked one.
Strom-Okimoto, whose eighth home run of the season leads the team, went 2-for-4, while
Elia Lizarraga (Torrance, CA/Narbonne) was also 2-for-4.
In the second game, Chaminade fell behind, 4-0, as UH-Hilo plated two runs each in the second and third innings.
In fourth, the Swords loaded the bases with no outs as Strom-Okimoto led off with a double, followed by an
Aja Keyes (Kaneohe, HI/Lutheran) single. Tumamaopavaivai Enos (Pahoa, HI/Pahoa) was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases with no outs. Lizarraga would bring the Swords' first run home on a ground-out to third, but CUH could not muster more in the inning, trailing 4-1.
The Swords would make a furious charge in the fifth inning as
Ashley Phelps (Torrance, CA/South) and
Shannan Hokama (Torrance, CA/South) both singled to lead off the frame.
Kori Berinobis (Kaneohe, HI/Castle) would single to right, bringing Phelps home, cutting the deficit to 4-2. Strom-Okimoto made it four straight singles with her hit to right field, setting the stage for Keyes. The sophomore first baseman made it 5-for-5 in the inning as she tied the score at 4 with a two-run single to center.
In the Chaminade sixth,
Samantha Ford (Honolulu, HI/Word of Life) singled to left to open the inning and a sacrifice bunt by Phelps moved her to second. Two batters later, Berinobis would deliver the clutch hit, singling to left, allowing Ford to score the go-ahead run, as Chaminade took a 5-4 lead.
Aspel, who relived
Kaitlyn Watanabe (Kula, HI/Baldwin) in the third, would retire six of the final seven batters she faced to preserve the win for the Swords. She allowed no runs on two hits in Game 2.
Chaminade tallied 13 base hits in the game with the Swords' No. 1-4 batters of Hokama, Berinobis, Strom-Okimoto and Keyes each going 2-for-4. Phelps also had two hits for CUH. Berinobis and Keyes also had two RBI in the game.
Aspel picked the wins in both games, improving to 14-10, as she lowered her ERA to 2.51 on the season. In all, Aspel threw 12.2 shutout innings, allowing six hits and one walk on the afternoon.
“Bretty (Aspel) went up against (Vanessa) Salinas, the conference pitcher of the week, and went toe-to-toe with her,” Silverswords head coach Kent Yamaguchi said. “Then she came out of the 'pen in the second game and had a fire in her eyes and kept refusing to lose. Even when we fell by four runs, we thought we still had time and kept chipping away, chipping away.”
Chaminade will get 13 days off before it plays again. The Swords visit Hawai'i Pacific on Saturday, April 27, at Howard Okita Field in Kaneohe, in a Pac West doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m.
