HONOLULU – The Chaminade University softball team completed their first four-game Pacific West Conference series of the season by splitting their second doubleheader against Biola on Saturday at Silversword Field at Sand Island Park.
The Silverswords rallied from a one-run deficit in the ninth inning by scoring twice, capped by a
Haley Hayakawa (Torrance, Calif./South) bases-loaded walk-off single that banged off the base of the left field fence 225 feet away to give the 'Swords their first conference win of the season.
For the third straight game,
Keaolani Takemura (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mid-Pacific Institute) drove in a pair of runs.
The Eagles took the second game, 5-0, on a three-hitter to win the series which saw a total of 11 triples in the four games. Biola leads the PacWest with 11 triples while the Silverswords are next with eight. The next closest teams have three (Azusa Pacific, Hawai'i Hilo).
Although a brisk wind remained throughout the day, the twin bill marked the first time they played under sunny skies at their new field, a stark contrast to their previous four doubleheaders which saw plenty of cloudy skies and rain.
Chaminade is 5-5 on the season and 1-3 in the PacWest while Biola is 10-5 and 3-1 in the conference.
Game 1: CUH 5, BU 4 (9 inn.)
Chaminade opened up the scoring on Takemura's RBI double that dropped just inside the right field line, scoring
Chasity McKean (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/College of Southern Nevada/Kapolei HS) all the way from first base.
The Eagles answered with two runs in the third but Takemura knotted it up in the bottom half of the inning with her second two-bagger of the game, plating
Taryn Fujioka (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) to tie it at 2.
In the sixth, BU pitcher Raylene Roybal helped her own cause, doubling in a run to put the Eagles up, 3-2. But CUH also had an answer in the home-half of the frame.
Larchelle Tuifao (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kapolei) led off with a pinch-hit single to right and eventually got to third, putting runners on the corners with one out. Fujioka then hit a dribbler to second but the Eagles couldn't turn the inning-ending double play as Tuifao hustled home for the tying run.
Neither team was able to score for the next two innings. The game went into extra frames until the ninth when Colby McClinton, a Kamehameha-Kapalama graduate, put the Eagles up, 4-3, with her two-out RBI single.
In the bottom of the ninth, Fujioka led off the inning by hitting a grounder down the right field line but Roybal had trouble handling the ball, allowing Fujioka to scamper to second. A wild pitch by reliever Jennifer Morinishi moved Fujioka to third. McKean then came through with a bloop single that landed in right center, scoring Fujioka for the tying run.
Kobe Brown (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) then singled to left to load the bases where Hayakawa launched the first pitch she saw with a monstrous single off the base of the fence, bringing home McKean for the game-winner. It was Hayakawa's second career walk-off, her first being last March with a game-winning sacrifice fly in the 10th inning against Dominican.
The 'Swords had 14 hits in the game with five batters getting two or more hits. McKean and Takemura each had three knocks with Fujioka, Brown and Hayakawa each getting two. Fujioka and Hayakawa both tripled in the game, giving both their conference-leading third three-baggers of the season.
Taylor Genera (Norwalk, Calif./Whitney) tossed seven innings and scattered seven hits while
Bailey Benson (Cheney, Wash./Gonzaga Preparatory) threw two innings to pick up her first career win, improving to 1-2.
Morinishi was charged with the loss to fall to 1-3.
Game 2: BU 5, CUH 0
After two scoreless innings, the Eagles put up a three-spot in the third and tacked on two more in the seventh.
Meanwhile, the Silverswords could not get to Kayla Bousquette (3-1) who allowed just three hits and retired 14 of the final 16 batters she faced. Tuifao had one of the base hits, giving her knocks in both games and in three games of the series against the Eagles.
Benson went 6 2/3 innings, scattering 10 hits and was charged with the loss to fall to 1-3.
Ashley Ogata (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) retired the only batter she faced.
The Silverswords will take the next two days off and are scheduled to face PacWest preseason favorite Concordia University Irvine on Tuesday. However, the state of Hawai'i, which owns Sand Island Recreational Park, is shutting down the entire property that day for road maintenance. A new location will be determined by Monday.
