KANEOHE, Hawai'i – Hawai'i Pacific University swept a softball doubleheader over visiting Corban (Ore.) on Tuesday afternoon winning 6-0 and 4-3 at Howard Okita Field.
 
The Sharks (3-1) took advantage of having already played, as the Warriors (0-2) opened the season with the twinbill.
 
HPU got timely hitting from junior Noel Saunders of Pearl City, Hawai'i/Pearl City who collected four RBI while going 2-of-6 with two walks on the afternoon. Junior Kanoe Tanigawa of Mililani, Hawai'i/Maryknoll went 4-for-5 with a walk in the two games, while freshman Neva Poulin of Corona, Calif./Norco went 2-for-6 with two runs scored.
 
Senior righthander Malia Torres (1-1) of Danville, Calif./Monte Vista tossed a five-hit shutout in winning game one with three strikeouts and a walk. Freshman righty Taylor Thompson (2-0) of Phoenix, Ariz./Pinnacle grabbed her second victory in the game two win, allowing three runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
 
The Sharks took over game one with a five-run second inning, keyed by an RBI triple by Poulin and a two RBI single by Saunders. HPU added another run on a Saunders RBI single.
 
The second saw HPU plate two runs each in the second and third innings, then held on after allowing one Warrior run in the third and two in the sixth.
 
Sophomore Hoku Ching of Honolulu/Roosevelt led off the second with a double, and scored on a wild pitch. Saunders followed with an RBI ground out to put the Sharks on top.
 
After allowing a Corban run in the third, freshman Tiari Hernandez of Waipahu, Hawai'i/Pearl City, reached on a walk in the bottom of the inning and advanced to third on a throwing error before scoring on the back-half of a double steal. Another throwing error allowed Poulin to score for the Sharks 4-1 lead.
 
But the Warriors plated two runs on four hits in the sixth, but HPU got out of the inning with a bases-loaded home-to-first double-play to end the threat.
 
Corban got a runner to start the seventh, but Shark junior catcher Savanna Salyer-Kovacs of Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo gunned down a pinch runner, followed by a Thompson struck out the next batter and got the last batter to foul out to third to end the game.
 
The Sharks head for southern California for the first time this season to play in this weekend's Concordia Kickoff Classic at The Great Park in Irvine. The Sharks meet Sonoma State on Friday at 7:15 a.m. HST (9:15 a.m. PST) in one of the first contests of the tournament.