WAIPAHU, O'ahu, Hawai'i – Nearly halfway through the most challenging part of their early-season conference schedule, the Chaminade University softball team continues to get quality work inside the circle.
However, the big hits they needed continued to elude them.
The Silverswords were swept by Azusa Pacific in sometimes drizzly conditions Thursday, 2-0 and 5-0, in the first doubleheader of a four-game series at Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park Softball Complex.
The 'Swords have already faced two of the top five squads in the Pacific West Conference standings (Concordia Irvine and Hawai'i Pacific) with Biola on deck next week. Azusa Pacific, Concordia and Biola are part of the conference's southern California region, considered to be the toughest area in the PacWest.
The losses dropped Chaminade to 2-6 on the year and 0-6 in the PacWest while Azusa Pacific improved to 6-13 and 3-7 in the PacWest.
Game 1 (APU 2, CUH 0)
The series opener proved to be a pitchers' duel with Chaminade's
Madelyn Stockslager (Torrance, Calif./South) matched up against Azusa Pacific's Elizabeth Phillips. Both hurlers put up zeros on the board until the fifth inning when the Cougars got all the offense they needed.
Makeila Laulu led off the frame with a double to the left-field fence then, after being sacrificed over to third, scored on an safety squeeze infield bunt by Brielle Fraijo. In the sixth, APU got an insurance run when Stockslager's throw to first on a bunt by Jenna Gorman sailed over the head of first baseman
Kobe Brown (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) and rolled all the way into the right field corner, allowing Amanda Woods to score all the way from first.
That was all Phillips needed as she finished her complete-game shutout.
However the 'Swords had several chances to push runs across. They had base runners in all but the fifth inning and stranded four in scoring position during the game.
They also were the recipient of some bad luck. Chaminade had runners on the corners with one out in the third but were victims of an inning-ending double play. In the sixth, Brown led off with a single then
Malia Ka`akimaka-Moisa (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campell) followed with a walk. But Woods took a potential run-scoring hit away from the 'Swords' next batter,
Taylor Genera (Norwalk, Calif./Whitney), with a sensational over-the-shoulder grab on Genera's pop-up just inside the left-field line. Both Brown and Ka`akimaka-Moisa were forced to hold but the Silverswords could not muster a hit after that.
Stockslager took yet another hard-luck loss to fall to 0-3. She scattered eight hits, struck out five and allowed just one earned run to drop her ERA to 2.76.
Brown had her first career multi-hit game, going 3-for-3 including a double in the second inning.
Phillips got the win to improve to 3-7.
Game 2 (APU 5, CUH 0)
Much like the first game, the nightcap featured yet another contest of which pitcher flinched first; this time with Genera in the circle facing APU's ace and two-time all-conference hurler, Kat Ung.
Both pitchers were tossing shutouts through most of the game. Although Genera faced traffic throughout, she was able to work out of jams in the third and fifth innings while Ung had retired 10 straight at one point until Genera roped a comebacker off Ung's hip for an infield single in the fifth.
But APU finally broke through in the sixth with four straight hits to open the frame, capped by a two-run double by Laulu for the game's first runs. CUH completed an unconventional 1-3-6-5 inning-ending double play with Laulu being tagged out at third after being caught in a rundown. However a third run scored before the final out was made.
Azusa Pacific broke the game open in the seventh, scoring twice more for a 5-0 cushion. Ung then struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to complete the sweep.
Ung, who no-hit the 'Swords on March 4, 2017, continued to baffle Chaminade bats, striking out 11 to improve to 4-4 on the year.
Genera, a freshman, matched Ung, a senior, pitch-for-pitch, until the final two innings. She allowed nine hits while all five runs were earned. The 'Swords managed five hits off Ung with
Jaeda Cabunoc (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Roosevelt) going 2-for-3.
The Silverswords, who have been blanked in four of the last five games and have dropped six straight, will look to turn their fortunes around Friday when they complete their series against the Cougars. First pitch of the final twin bill at CORP Softball Complex is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. with live streaming audio coverage on GoSwords.com.
