ST. GEORGE, Utah – The Chaminade University softball team began their 14-day, 16-game Mainland road trip by dropping a doubleheader to Dixie State Wednesday at Karl Brooks Field.
The Silverswords lost the first game of the twin bill, 8-0 in six innings then fell in the second game, 16-4 in five.
The losses dropped Chaminade to 8-16 overall and 4-10 in the Pacific West Conference. The Red Storm, last season's defending national runners-up and the current 14
th-ranked team in the nation, improved to 25-7 and 13-3 in the PacWest.
Game 1The Silverswords, who have historically struggled in St. George, managed to keep the potent Dixie State bats in check in the early innings. Starter
Luana Moreno kept the Red Storm off the board before DSU put up single runs in the third and fourth frames.
But a four-run fifth inning helped to ignite the Red Storm as they opened up a 6-0 lead. Dixie State greeted the sixth with three straight doubles for the game's final two runs as they ended the game via the eight-run rule.
Meanwhile the Chaminade bats struggled against DSU's Aryn Feickert who not only struck out 11 but also no-hit the 'Swords. It was the second time this season that Chaminade was on the wrong end of a no-no.
Feickert improved to 14-3 while Moreno took the loss to fall to 5-7.
Game 2The Silverswords ensured that they wouldn't be no-hit again when
Jenn Betian led off the game with an opposite field single.
Meanwhile, the Red Storm continued to swing the hot sticks. Chaminade starter
Chelsea Camello surrendered seven runs as 12 DSU batters stepped to the plate in the bottom of the first inning.
DSU added three runs in the second and another in the third before Camello was finally pulled for
Kayla Higuchi.
Down 10-0 and facing the possibility of being run-ruled by the Red Storm again, the Silverswords pieced together a multi-run inning.
Ashlyn Yagin led off the fourth with an infield single followed by a one-out hit by
Amber Manuel.
Coco Stewart put the 'Swords on the board with a single to left to plate Yagin, then two batters later,
Keani Passi blasted a three-run homer to center to make it 10-4, delaying the mercy rule. The four-run inning was the most by the 'Swords in Karl Brooks Field since putting up the same number on April 1, 2012.
But the Red Storm hammered Higuchi in the home-half of the inning, plating six runs, marking the seventh consecutive game that the Red Storm had run-ruled the 'Swords at home.
Camello fell to 3-7 on the year, giving up 10 runs, eight of which were earned, on 11 hits. Yagin added a single in the fifth to finish the game 2-for-2 at the plate, the freshman's first career multi-hit game. Passi's homer was her fourth of the season which also ended her 10-game homerless streak. It was also the first jack by a Silversword at DSU since Brandi Sasaki did it in March 2010.
Brooklyn Beardshear improved to 8-2, striking out four in three innings of work. Six DSU players had at least two hits.
The Silverswords face No. 11 California Baptist on Friday, the first of two doubleheaders in Riverside, California.
