OK, exhale.
After five hours of head-spinning rallies and last-swing heroics, Chaminade and Hawai‘i-Hilo settled for a split of yesterday’s doubleheader at Palolo Field, a game that left coaches, players and a small, dizzy crowd of friends and family half-satisfied and near hypoxic.
With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, freshman reserve Coreen Iwamoto swung on a full count and connected with a game-tying home run to help the Silverswords (7-7 overall , 5-7 Pacific West Conference) pull out an eight-inning, 3-2 victory in the first game.
In the second game, the Vulcans scored three runs in the seventh inning to tie the score, then hit for three more in the extra inning to earn the split with a 9-6 win.
Chaminade coach Allison Nihei called the first game "a very big win for us," and the second "our hardest loss this season."
UH-Hilo coach Callen Perreira, who watched the Vulcans give up a game on an error for the second day in a row, said his hitters "woke up" just in time to avoid an 0-4 weekend on O‘ahu.
The Vulcans (6-6, 6-6) were swept in their doubleheader versus Hawai‘i Pacific on Saturday.
"It was nice to see (our players) come back and regain their confidence," Perreira said. "We finally showed what we can do."
Down 2-0 in the sixth inning, Chaminade gave up two quick outs and appeared done for the inning when Christine Pascua hit a double to right-center field. Trisha Holley then singled to center field to score Pascua.
The Silverswords again gave up easy outs on a pair of routine grounders in the seventh inning. But, with the game on the line, Nihei called on Iwamoto to pinch hit for Jillian Umeda.
"I was just thinking ‘base hit’ but she (pitcher Kristine Kahoalii) went right down the middle," Iwamoto said. "I think she was trying to pitch inside but she made a mistake and I went for it."
Iwamoto’s first collegiate homer easily cleared the red plastic fence that borders the field.
"She had been in sort of a slump," Nihei said. "But (the Vulcans) had never seen her before. They didn’t know how to pitch to her. She saw the ball and she keyed it up."
The Silverswords had a scary moment in the extra inning when a line drive by Brandi Yarnell caught pitcher Melissa Marquez on her pitching hand. After testing her release, Marquez stayed in the game and retired the next two batters to close the top of the inning.
Chaminade led off its half with a pair of singles by Kelsi Kobashigawa and Anuhea Kekauoha. The game was decided when UH-Hilo’s Abby Padasdao fielded a bunt by Pascua and overthrew first base, allowing Kobashigawa to score the winning run.
Errors continued to hurt UH-Hilo in the second game.
In the fourth inning, Diana Kim misplayed a hit by Kimberly Balles, allowing Pascua to score. UH-Hilo tied the score in the fifth on an RBI single by Leinani Hashida .
In the bottom of the fifth, Perreira replaced pitcher Taysha Anderson with Chenelle Chikazawa when Anderson gave up three consecutive hits. But Chikazawa struggled, allowing Kekauoha to steal home on a wild pitch and giving up an RBI single to Melisha Fernandez for a 3-1 Silverswords lead.
Again the Vulcans responded, tying the score in the sixth on a double to center field by Kim that scored Tiffany Laranio and Kealohi Reppun.
And again, the Silverswords fought for the lead in the bottom of the inning, this time on a stunning two-out home run by Pascua that scored Kobashigawa and Kekauoha.
"I don’t know what it is about this team, but over the last few games we’ve gotten a lot of our offense with two outs," Nihei said.
The Silverswords were in a good position to extend the lead, but Kahoalii, who replaced Chikazawa, forced pinch hitter Alicia Quindt to pop out on a full count with the bases loaded.
Down 6-3, the Vulcans took advantage of faltering Chaminade pitcher Kelly Kaaihili. Padasdao powered a double to right field that scored Claresa Asuncion from second and Martinez hit a sacrifice fly that scored Leinani Hashida from third to narrow the lead to 6-5. Kayla Kahuli then hit an RBI double to tie the score.
In the extra inning, Asuncion hit a single to center and advanced to third on a fielding error by Yarnell. Kim scored on the play to give UH-Hilo a 7-6 lead. Insurance came from Padasdao, who hit a triple that drove in Asuncion, and Vega, who doubled to left center to score Padasdao.
"It’s a game of inches," Nihei said. "We would have been in and out of here in six and a half innings if we didn’t make costly errors.
"This was a hard loss, but it will be good for us," she said. "With a loss like this early in the season, we can only get better."
