IRVINE, Calif. – The Chaminade University softball team ended the southern California portion of their road trip by dropping a doubleheader Wednesday at Concordia University of Irvine, 7-0 and 4-1 at Eagles Softball Field.
The Silverswords fell to 8-24 overall and 4-18 in the Pacific West Conference. The Eagles improved to 29-8 and 11-5.
The contest featured the PacWest's top four home run hitters in Concordia's Charlotte Foster (nine homers), Ryann Ferguson (8) and Amy Eilefson (8) as well as Chaminade's
Rainelle Matsuoka (8).
Game 1CUI struck in the home half of the first on Foster's three-run shot which just cleared the wall in left for her conference-leading 10
th homer of the season.
From there it was a pitcher's duel between the Eagles' Grayson Harvey and the 'Swords' combo of
Chelsea Camello and
Amber Manuel. All three hurlers put zeros on the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth when Ferguson had a two-run shot to increase CUI's lead to 5-0.
Meanwhile Harvey baffled Chaminade bats, allowing no hits through six innings. With one down,
Kaleen Terayama hit a bouncer to the left side but the throw by the shortstop went into the dirt just when the Silverswords second baseman stepped on the bag. The play was ruled an error, preserving the no-hitter. Harvey got a pair of strikeouts to complete the no-no.
Harvey, the conference's strikeout leader, K'd a career-high14 en-route to a no-hitter and improved to 16-3 on the season. It was the third time this season that Chaminade was victim of a no-hitter.
Camello was charged with the loss to fall to 3-11 on the season.
Game 2Matsuoka finally got a hit for Chaminade with a long two-out single that bounced off the wall in left center. The base knock ended a streak of 12 straight hitless innings.
The Eagles tacked on single runs in the first and second innings to take a 2-0 lead. The Silverswords answered in the third when
Sierra Mendiola and Terayama led off the frame with singles. Three batters later, Manuel came through with a two-out RBI single that just fell inside the left-field line to plate Terayama, cutting CUI's lead to 2-1.
Concordia increased its lead to 3-1 by opening the fifth with consecutive doubles but the 'Swords escaped further damage on a runner's interference at second base for the first out, followed by an inning-ending 8-3 double-play on
Keani Passi's running catch in shallow center field.
CUI tacked on an insurance run in the sixth when Megan Feuerstein's one-out bunt was popped up in front of the plate. CUH catcher
Kiana Ulufale made a diving attempt but the ball ricocheted off her glove and stayed in fair territory down the third base line, allowing the run to come home.
The Eagles then got a 1-2-3 seventh to send the 'Swords to their 12
th straight defeat.
Luana Moreno (5-11) went the distance, surrendering four runs, three earned, with 10 hits while striking out three. Manuel and Mendiola each had two hits for Chaminade.
BethAnn McCann (8-2) struck out six in the complete game win for Concordia.
The Silverswords will head north to Turlock, California, for the 2016 Tournament of Champions presented by the City of Turlock. They open the tournament Friday against Cal State Dominguez Hills and Simon Fraser.
