IRVINE, Calif. – Playing on the mainland for the first time in three years, the Chaminade University softball team was looking to legitimize their No. 2 spot in the Pacific West Conference standings.
On Monday, the Silverswords opened a 12-game conference road trip to Southern California against undefeated Concordia University Irvine, the second-ranked team in Division II and the owners of a 24-game winning streak – along with the best overall record in all three NCAA divisions – to open their season.
However, the 'Swords fell in both games of the twin bill, 5-1 in the opener, then a soul-crushing 1-0 walk-off defeat in nine innings at Eagles Field, the program's first games on the continental United States since March 2019.
The losses snapped Chaminade's six-game winning streak, dropping them to 10-6 overall and 8-4 in the PacWest while CUI improved to 26-0 and 14-0 in the conference.
Cheyne Obara (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) collected hits in both games while
Kobe Brown (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) had a pair of knocks in Game 2.
Taryn Fujioka (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City), last week's PacWest Player of the Week, extended her hitting streak to 10 games in the opener although her school-record six game streak with at least one run ended. Her hit streak would also end in the nightcap.
Although the 'Swords dropped both games, their competitiveness against the Eagles may have served notice that they are as dangerous an opponent as there is in the conference.
Game 1: CUI 5, CUH 1
Going up against Erika Morris, Chaminade starter
Jaeda Cabunoc (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Roosevelt) did not flinch against the Eagles' designated Ace 1-A, throwing three scoreless innings, aided by double plays in the first and third innings. But CUI dinged her for three runs and four hits, all for extra bases in the fourth. The inning's big blow was a two-run homer by Missy Nemeth, which put the Eagles up 3-0.
In the top of the fifth, a lead-off error helped open the door for the 'Swords, who followed with a two-out single from
Malia Ka`akimaka-Moisa (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell) and a bunt single from Fujioka.
Hailey Matsumura (Honolulu/Saint Francis) brought in Ka'akimaka-Moisa with a looping infield single which bounced off the glove of diving shortstop Rylie Rohr.
A two-out CUH error in the bottom of the fifth paved the way for two more Eagle runs, increasing their lead to 5-1.
The 'Swords had a chance to draw closer in the top of the seventh, putting runners on the corners while Ka'akimaka-Moisa just missed a solo home run which drifted a few feet wide of the left field foul pole. A comebacker to Morris ended the game and their win streak.
Cabunoc, who doubled against Morris in the fourth, allowed five runs, three earned, while scattering nine hits, falling to 6-3 on the season. It was also Chaminade's first defeat in their gunmetal grey uniforms this season (4-0 previously).
Morris tossed five innings to improve to 6-0 while Cortney Koelmans threw the final two in a non-save situation.
Game 2: CUI 1, CUH 0 (9)
The nightcap was an epic pitchers' duel between
Taylor Genera (Norwalk, Calif./Whitney) and CUI's Ace 1-B, Katlin Entrup, with both hurlers throwing up zeros in regulation seven innings and in the first extra inning.
The 'Swords had runners at second and third with two out in the top of the third but were unable to push across the game's first run.
The Eagles had a similar second-and-third situation in the bottom of the third but Genera worked out of the predicament by getting Mia Sarcedo to hit a harmless comeback to quell the Eagles' threat.
Genera then went on cruise control, retiring 16 of the final 18 batters she faced. However, the 18th batter, Megan Massa, led off the bottom of the ninth with her first homer of the season to put a heartbreaking conclusion to the day.
Genera (4-2) held the PacWest's top hitting squad to just five hits, Concordia's fewest since also getting five against San Francisco State on Feb. 13. She did not allow a walk and, with eight scoreless frames, lowered her ERA to 1.95 on the year.
Fujioka went 0-for-2 with a walk to see her hitting streak end at 10, tied with Rayna Strom-Okimoto and Rainelle Matsuoka for the sixth-longest in school history., Obara, who blooped a first-inning single to right in the first, now has the team's longest hit streak at five.
Chaminade, which turned its 14th twin killing of the year in the third, now has a 0.88 per game average, pushing them ahead of Virginia Union as the nation's top double-play club.
Entrup struck out nine to improve to 10-0 on the year.
The Silverswords and Eagles wrap up their four-game series Tuesday with first pitch of the doubleheader scheduled for 2 p.m. Pacific (11 a.m. Hawaiian).
