HILO, Hawai'i – The Chaminade University softball team hit the road Saturday for the final time in 2019 and earned a split against island rival Hawai'i Hilo at UH Hilo Softball Field.
The Silverswords took the first game, 2-1, with a two-run homer by
Kiana Ulufale (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell) and a pitching gem from
Madelyn Stockslager (Torrance, Calif./South). The victory snapped a 20-game losing streak to the Vulcans dating back to 2013.
UH Hilo won the nightcap, 8-1 in five innings, which was its final home game of the season.
Chaminade is 12-34 on the season and 9-25 in the Pacific West Conference while UH Hilo, which entered the week No. 9 in the first NCAA West Region rankings, is 29-16 and 22-10 in the conference. The split gave both teams two points in the PacWest Hawai'i Challenge with Chaminade earning its first points in the softball portion of the Challenge since 2017.
The games were makeups of the Feb. 24 doubleheader that was postponed due to rain.
Game 1
Both squads had early chances.
Rainelle Matsuoka (Honolulu/Kaiser) led off the game with a double that dropped just inside the right-field corner but couldn't make it home while the Vulcans stranded a runner at third in their half of the inning.
UH Hilo got on the board in the second on an RBI single from Skylar Thomas.
But Chaminade countered in the fourth. Following
Malia Ka`akimaka-Moisa's (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell) single to left, Ulufale, who flew out to the base of the fence in her first at-bat, launched the first pitch she saw from Isabelle Mejia and parked it into the bushes beyond the fence in left for a go-ahead two-run homer to put the 'Swords up 2-1. It was the senior's second jack of the season and Ulufale's ninth career homer, tying her for sixth in school history with
Carolyn Fisher and
Loihi McKeague.
From there it was the Stockslager Show. She worked around a lead-off walk in the fourth by striking out the side then stranded the tying run at third in the fifth. Stockslager then slammed the door shut by retiring the final six batters she faced.
Despite six walks, Stockslager was brilliant, holding the Vulcans to just two hits. She also struck out five, giving her 102 strikeouts on the season, becoming the first 'Sword to record a 100-K season since Melissa Marquez's school-record of 113 set in 2002. She also picked up her 10th win, the program's first 10-game winner since
Brett Aspel and
Kaitlyn Watanabe won 14 and 11 games, respectively, in 2013.
Ulufale had two of Chaminade's five hits in the game. Along with Matsuoka, Ka'akimaka-Moisa and
Cheyne Obara (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) also had base knocks. The win was Chaminade's first over UH Hilo since April 14, 2013 when they won both games of a doubleheader on the same field.
Mejia took the loss to fall to 11-3.
Game 2
With
Michelle Sasaki (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kalaheo) taking the circle in the nightcap, the sophomore got a 1-2-3 inning in the first. But UH Hilo got back-to-back doubles in the second to take a 2-0 lead. They added three in the third and four in the fifth, the final run coming on a wild pitch to end the game via run-rule.
Chaminade got its lone run in the fourth when
Hailey Matsumura (Honolulu/Saint Francis HS) blooped a single down the right-field line which scored Ka'akimaka-Moisa.
Sasaki took the loss to fall to 1-7 while
Alexas Presto-Ahsing (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) tossed the final 2 1/3 innings. Matsuoka and Ka'akimaka-Moisa both completed the day with hits in both games while, in addition to Matsumura,
Kayla Russell (Honolulu/Kaiser) and
Maureen Hutchinson (Curtisville, Pa./Deer Lake) also had hits in the second game.
Valerie Alvarado went the distance for the Vulcans to earn the win, improving to 9-5 on the season.
The Silverswords and Vulcans meet again next Saturday, this time at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park Softball Complex. It will be the season finale for the 'Swords where seniors
Kayla Higuchi (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Aiea),
Kayla Henmi (Torrance, Calif./South),
Ashlyn Yagin (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell), Matsuoka and Ulufale will be honored.
