IRVINE, Calif. – Playing at Concordia University Irvine has never been kind to the Chaminade University softball team. In fact, the same can be said about scoring runs against Golden Eagles, period.
Just 24 hours after being shut out twice in the series opening doubleheader, the Silverswords exercised several demons with a 4-3, nine-inning upset over the No. 17 Golden Eagles in the first game of Wednesday's twin bill.
First, the 'Swords won their first-ever game at Golden Eagles Field after having lost all previous 12 there since Concordia joined the Pacific West Conference in 2016.
They also ended a 32-year-old curse in Southern California, winning in the region for the first time since 1992, snapping a streak of 48 straight defeats including all four earlier this year at the Concordia Kickoff Classic.
Although they lost the finale, five Silverswords crossed the plate in their 8-5 defeat, marking multiple runs in back-to-back games in the series for the first time since 2018. And after being blanked in eight of the last nine meetings, the nine total runs is the most in any doubleheader against Concordia in series history.
Chaminade is 10-10 overall and 6-4 in the PacWest. Concordia fell to 29-7 and was handed its first conference defeat of the season at 17-1. The Golden Eagles also saw their 19-game conference home winning streak dating back to last season come to an end.
Game 1: CUH 4, CUI 3 (9 inn.)
Concordia's second-inning home run by Michalah Robison in the bottom of the second inning was the first of the game but Chaminade jumped ahead in the fourth on
Taryn Fujioka's (Aiea, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City) two-run double.
Robison struck again in the fourth, tying the score at 2 on an RBI single although she was thrown out at third, trying to take an extra base.
But with one swing, Chaminade went ahead again, 3-2, this time on a solo blast from
Larchelle Tuifao (Ewa Beach, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Kapolei), who deposited ace hurler Katlin Entrup's pitch over the left field wall, her fourth of the year after Entrup relieved starter Jayden Nishi. It was just the second homer by a Silversword in the park and the first since Alexis Velazquez in 2019.
The Golden Eagles got the tying run in the fifth and the score remained at a 3-3 deadlock until the ninth.
Vanessa Pena (Paramount, Calif./Paramount), who came in as a defensive replacement in the seventh, coaxed a lead-off walk and, two batters later, Fujioka roped an opposite field double over the left fielder to bring in Peña for the go-ahead run.
In the home half of the ninth,
Jaeda Kumaewa-Cabunoc (Kaneohe, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Roosevelt), making just her second pitching appearance of the season, got a fly out to secure the upset.
Fujioka and
Kobe Brown (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) each had two of Chaminade's eight hits while Kumaewa-Cabunoc, who moved from third base to the circle in the seventh, tossed the final three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit, to pick up the win. It was also the Silverswords' second win over Concordia since 2000, having also defeated them last year at Pearl City High School.
Entrup, who started the series opener on Tuesday and got the win, suffered the loss in relief. Interestingly, Entrup also took the loss to CUH last year, which was also a relief appearance.
Game 2: CUI 8, CUH 5
With momentum still on the side of the visitors, the 'Swords saw the carryover in the nightcap's second batter when
Keaolani Takemura-Brehme (Pearl City, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mid-Pacific Institute) crushed a no-doubter to left off Concordia's Ace 1-A, Courtney Koelmans, giving the senior her first career home run.
After an RBI ground out which allowed CUI to knot the score at 1, Chaminade loaded the bases in the second where Tuifao promptly cleared them, ripping a two-out drive down the left field line, scoring all three runners to give Chaminade a 4-1 lead, and essentially putting the Golden Eagles on the ropes.
But CUI rallied with a three-spot in the bottom of the inning, getting a 5-4 lead on an RBI single from Mary Baccay.
Chaminade replied in the third as
Bailey Jacobsen (Buena Park, Calif./Cypress) led off the inning with a single then got to third when
Isabel Rodriguez (Littleton, Colo./Columbine) reached on an error. Freshman
Summer Buck (Honolulu/Kaiser), who continues to impress with increased playing time, laced the tying run to right.
However, Concordia had an answer in the home half of the third when Kaia Nisby doubled in the go-ahead run off the base of the wall in center. CUI got insurance runs in the fifth with a three-spot including Baccay's run-scoring triple.
Megan Casper, who relieved Kira Morris after she was injured chasing an infield single in the third, handcuffed the 'Swords in the final five innings, allowing just three baserunners and retired the final 10 batters she faced to pick up the win.
The 'Swords got 11 hits, their most against CUI since they joined the PacWest. Jacobsen had three hits including a fourth-inning double while Tuifao and Kumaewa-Cabunoc each had two knocks.
Ashley Ogata (Mililani, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Mililani) suffered the loss.
The Silverswords will open a four-game series against Biola University on Friday with the first pitch of the twin bill at 9 a.m. Hawai'i time.
