HONOLULU – It might only be the start of the exhibition fall season for the Chaminade University softball team but they looked to be in midseason form.
The Silverswords, making their fall season debut on Thursday, scored five times in the final two innings to score a 5-3 upset win over their Division I neighbors, Hawai'i Manoa, in the opening game of the Fall Preseason Classic at UH's Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
Bailey Jacobsen (Buena Park, Calif./Cypress) smashed the game-tying, pinch-hit three-run homer with the 'Swords down to their final out in the top of the seventh while
Keaolani Takemura-Brehme (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mid-Pacific Institute) drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth.
Ashley Ogata (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) went all eight innings in the circle and shut down the UH bats in the final five to earn the win.
Although the exhibition win and statistics will not count, it still had historical implications. It was the first-ever documented win by Chaminade softball over Hawai'i – exhibition or regular season – between the two programs since the series first began in 1990. The two programs have faced each other regularly in the fall exhibition season since 2006 where UH had previously won all 32 fall meetings. The Rainbow Wahine had also won all five spring exhibition contests between the two.
Despite it being the first game, the 'Swords still flashed splendid defense.
Jaeda Cabunoc (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Roosevelt) saved a first-inning run by tagging out a runner at third breaking for home, helping limit the damage to just one run despite having UH having runners at second and third with no outs.
Kailah Gates-Coyaso (Waianae, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Waianae) made a pick on a short hop at second base in the second inning and shortstop
Taryn Fujioka (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) had a diving snag of a liner on the next play.
Chaminade's outfield also shined with
Isabel Rodriguez (Littleton, Colo./Columbine) in left and
Chasity McKean (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/College of Southern Nevada/Kapolei HS) in center making several putouts on hard hit Hawai'i liners.
Hawai'i managed to scratch out single runs in the second and third innings while Chaminade was able to get singles from Takemura-Brehme and
Larchelle Tuifao (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kapolei) in the first two innings.
Down 3-0 in the top of the seventh, the Silverswords' pinch-hitters provided a massive spark. Freshman Summer Buck (Honolulu/Kaiser) began a rally with a two-out walk, followed by pinch-hitter Vanessa Pena's (Paramount, Calif./Paramount) flare that dropped into shallow left center. That was followed by Jacobsen's three-run clout to left-center which tied the game.
After UH couldn't score the winning run in the seventh, the game went into extra innings with the international tiebreaker rule in place with the runner at second to start the inning, Takemura-Brehme's ground out to second allowed Desiree Bravo (Corona, Calif./Mt. San Antonio College/Centennial HS), who was placed at second, to score the go-ahead run.
Kobe Brown (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) then followed with an infield single scoring Fujioka for an insurance run.
Ogata then tossed a perfect eighth to give the 'Swords the upset win. The sophomore scattered nine hits and struck out four, all in the fifth and six innings. However, she allowed just three hits, all singles, in the final five innings against the powerful UH lineup.
Chaminade collected six hits total with Jacobsen's blast the only extra base hit.
The game, as is all contests during the tournament, was played with free substations and re-entries for both teams.
The Silverswords continue in the Fall Preseason Tournament Friday against Fullerton College at noon followed by a rematch against the Rainbow Wahine at 2:30 p.m.
