KANEOHE, O'ahu, Hawai'i – Plagued by the lack of clutch hitting for most of the season, the Chaminade University softball team put together perhaps their most gritty performance as a whole in Tuesday's series finale against Academy of Art at Hawai'i Pacific University's Howard Okita Field.
The Silverswords pieced timely hits, taking the first game of the twin bill, 5-2, behind multi-hit games at the bottom of the lineup card.
The 'Swords then topped the nightcap with a thrilling 4-3 victory in extras, twice rallying from deficits in the sixth and eighth innings to complete the sweep and take 3-for-4 in the series.
Jaeda Cabunoc (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Roosevelt),
Malia Ka`akimaka-Moisa (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Campbell) and
Hailey Matsumura (Honolulu/Saint Francis) each totaled three hits on the afternoon.
Robbi Gallegos (Long Beach, Calif./Saint Joseph) was an unlikely hero on the front of two game-tying plays late in Game 2 while Matsumura, who is having a career year at the plate, delivered her first career walk-off hit.
Chaminade improved to 15-22 overall and 11-17 in the Pacific West Conference. Academy of Art fell to 8-39 and 5-19.
Game 1: CUH 5, ART U 2
The Urban Knights struck with a run in the first inning but the 'Swords answered in their half of the frame when a
Bailey Jacobsen (Buena Park, Calif./Cypress) lead-off walk led her crossing the plate on Ka'akimaka-Moisa's hit up the middle.
The score remained deadlocked at 1 until the fourth when Chaminade got three consecutive singles to load the bases. ART U starter Jolene Rhoades then uncorked a wild pitch, allowing
Kieren Lopez (Bakersfield, Calif./Frontier) to cross the plate to put the home team up, 2-1. Cabunoc then had the big hit of the contest, ripping a two-run double to the left-center gap, scoring Matsumura and
Cheyne Obara (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) giving Chaminade a 4-1 edge.
The Urban Knights got a run back in the fifth when Lauryn Henderson, who set the ART U all-time home run record a day earlier, hit her 24th career homer to right-center.
But in the sixth, Chaminade got its three-run lead back on in bizarre fashion. After Matsumura walked to lead off the sixth, Obara laid down a bunt on a sacrifice attempt. However, Obara was safe on a bang-bang play at first while Matsumura scampered to an unoccupied third base. After ART U catcher Alyssa Brundage received the throw, she and Rhoades began to confer towards the pitching circle. However, time was not called by the defense, allowing an alert Matsumura to scamper home to literally steal a run, making it 5-2.
In the seventh, the Urban Knights got a one-out walk but Chaminade finished it with a game-ending 5-4-3 double play, their PacWest-leading 25th twin killing of the year.
Matsumura, Obara and Cabunoc – Chaminade's 6, 7 and 8 hitters in the lineup – each had two hits and were a collective 6-for-7 at the plate. Cabunoc, in the circle, scattered nine hits to improve to 9-12 on the season.
Rhoades took the loss to fall to 5-16.
Game 2: CUH 4, ART U 3 (8 innings)
In the third with Cailee Grayhorse-Pupekci at first, Elle Edeker laid down a bunt but the throw to get the force at second was thrown into right-center field. The speedy Grayhorse-Pupeki scampered home while the throw at the plate was bounced to the backstop, allowing Edeker to round the bases on the Little League home run.
The 'Swords' bats finally got to work when Rhoades relieved starter Haley Arnold-Jolley in the sixth to preserve a 2-0 lead. After Ka'akimaka-Moisa and
Taryn Fujioka (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) reached on a hit and hit-by-pitch, respectively, a wild pitch enabled both to move up a bag. Gallegos, who entered as a defensive replacement in the fourth, hit a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Ka'akimaka-Moisa. But the throw got past catcher Cassandra Mittman and rolled to the backstop, bringing Fujioka for the tying run, the third run of the game to be scored via error.
In the seventh, the 'Swords showed off their impeccable defense again. After Mittman led off with a double, Katie Humphreys hit a bouncer to Obara at second who elected to go to third with the throw, beating Mittman by two steps, thus erasing the lead runner. After a sacrifice bunt moved Humphreys to second, Edeker laced a single to right but Ka'akimaka-Moisa made a clean grab off the hop and a strong throw back to the infield, forcing Humphreys to hold at third. Chaminade starter
Taylor Genera (Norwalk, Calif./Whitney) then got Maddie Sticka to hit a soft liner to Fujioka to end the inning.
The game went into extras where Mittman made up for her base running mistake in the eighth, lacing an RBI single to center, putting the Urban Knights up, 3-2.
But in their half of the eighth, the 'Swords again had an answer. Ka'akimaka-Moisa led off with a walk then reached second on Fujioka's opposite field hit. Gallegos, who was 0-for-17 entering the afternoon, then came up with the biggest at-bat of her two-year career, dropping a base hit into right-center, allowing Ka'akimaka-Moisa to motor around third for the tying run, Gallego's second RBI of the game. Two batters later, Cabunoc singled to load the bases, bringing up Matsumura. The senior worked a 2-2 count then blistered a liner to center, bringing in Gallegos for the game winner.
Ka'akimaka-Moisa was the lone Silversword with two hits in the nightcap while Matsumura's walk-off hit pushed her season batting average to a career-best .273. Genera went the distance in the circle, allowing six hits and one unearned run to improve to 6-8.
Rhoades took the loss out of the pen to fall to 5-17.
With the loss of Patsy T. Mink Central O'ahu Regional Park since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 combined with the anticipated opening of the new Silversword Field at Sand Island in 2023, Chaminade concluded its run using Okita Field as one of its temporary homes, finishing with a 12-5 mark there when they are the home team.
The Silverswords will conclude their home portion of the season Sunday when they host HPU at Sand Island Park. Ka'akimaka-Moisa and Matsumura will be honored as well as junior
Yolanda Racaza (San Pedro, Calif./Port of Los Angeles) who will forgo her final year of eligibility to concentrate on academics. First pitch is scheduled for noon.
