HONOLULU – The Chaminade University softball team on Friday faced off against Jessup University in their first four-game Pacific West Conference series of the season, their first games at their home turf at Silversword Field at Sand Island Park since Feb. 14.
After letting a rather close game slip away from them in the matinee in their 12-1 loss, the Silverswords bounced back in the nightcap, rallying for five runs in the bottom of the ninth, capped by
Carisma Ta'amai's (Oroville, Calif./Pleasant Valley) three-run walk-off home run in their 8-6 win, capping a five-RBI game.
Ta'amai also went yard in the first inning, becoming just the second Silversword with a multi-homer game three-plus-year history of the immense 225-foot field.
According to available records, the freshman infielder is also the first Chaminade player in recorded history to hit a walk-off home run in the seventh inning or later.
Chaminade is 4-11 overall and 3-3 in the PacWest. Jessup is 9-12 and 6-6 in the conference.
Game 1: JSP 12, CUH 1
The Warriors scored three times in the top of the first and two more in the fourth.
Miranda Diaz (Whittier, Calif./Cerritos College/California HS) kept the Silverswords in striking range with an RBI hit, making it 5-1.
But Jessup put the game out of reach, scoring seven times in the final two innings for the convincing win in the series opener.
Diaz and
Gabriella Schneider (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Alta Loma) each had two of Chaminade's six hits.
Kayden Lopez (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces Memorial) took the loss after three innings while older sister
Kamryn Lopez (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces Memorial) went the final four.
Evangelina Chavarria picked up the win for Jessup with Kylie Nunes driving in four runs.
Game 2: CUH 8, JSP 6
After the Warriors got a run in the first, Ta'amai crushed a two-run blast to straightaway center, putting the Silverswords up 2-1.
It stayed that way until the top of the fifth when Jessup took advantage of two errors, scoring four times to take the lead then added another run in the sixth for a 6-2 advantage.
Schneider's sixth-inning RBI brought home
Summer Buck (Honolulu/Kaiser), who doubled earlier in the inning, cutting the deficit in half.
With their last chance in the bottom of the seventh, Chaminade loaded the bases with one out. Buck then scalded a double into the left center gap, plating
Mikala Jacobsen (Buena Park, Calif./Cypress College/Cypress HS) and
Elora Tonaki (Kapolei, O'ahu, Hawai'i/Hawai'i Technology Academy), cutting the deficit to 6-5 with the tying and winning runs in scoring position.
Ta'amai worked a 2-2 count and one the sixth pitch of the at-bat, blasted a majestic shot over the fence in left-center for an improbable come-from-behind win.
Jacobsen, Buck and Ta'amai each had two base knocks with Ta'amai's two homers bringing in five runs.
Ava Walker (Las Vegas/Faith Lutheran) went the distance, throwing 125 pitches to earn her first win of the season.
Korrie Almond, summoned to protect the lead in the seventh, suffered the loss.
The series between the Silverswords and Warriors wraps up on Saturday with their second twin bill with first pitch at noon.
