CARSON, Calif. – The Hawaii Pacific University softball team completed their final two games of their 7-game road trip Monday afternoon against CSU Dominguez Hills at Toro Diamond.
The Sharks (0-7) fell 6-1 and 6-0 against the Toros (5-2) who will now face fellow PacWest member Azusa later in the week, while Hawaii has a week off before their home opener against Hilo.
Game One
After a scoreless first inning, sophomore infielder
Tiari Hernandez led off the second inning with a base hit to right field. Senior infielder
Kanoe Tanigawa then singled to put pressure on them. With two runners on the Sharks took a chance and were successful on a double steal to put runners in scoring position with one out. The next batter, senior catcher
Savanna Salyer-Kovacs grounded out to the second baseman but secured an RBI and the first run of the ballgame.
The Toros caught fire in the second inning too and scored three runs on four hits to take a 3-1 lead going into the third.
The bats went quiet for an inning for both sides until the bottom of the fourth for Dominguez Hills, when the first two batters reached on walks. They would be moved over into scoring position before Nayah Pola singled both runners in. Pola advanced on a ground ball to then be batted in for the inning's third and final run extending the lead 6-1 over HPU.
Hawaii Pacific was unable to get the bats going after falling 6-1 in the final box score.
Hernandez led the way with two hits, while Salyer-Kovacs collected the team's only RBI.
Sophomore
Taylor Thompson and Freshman
Gianna Kerschbaum each threw three innings giving up three runs each. Kerschbaum led the pitchers with two strikeouts.
Game Two
The first couple of innings began as a pitcher's duel before Dominguez Hills broke the seal in the bottom of the third. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Alex Davis, who saw one into the barrel for a grand slam, and an instant 4-0 lead.
The Toros struck again in the bottom of the fourth with two more adding to the lead 6-0.
Toros pitcher Alyssa Olague had a no-hitter through six and two-thirds of an inning before Saunders collected the only hit of the game for the Sharks.
Freshman pitcher
Hailey Yoshida pitched all six innings for the Sharks where she collected two strikeouts and gave up four earned runs.
The Sharks return back to the islands for their home opener next week on Friday, Feb. 17 at 11 a.m. in a non-conference matchup with UH Hilo.
#GoSharks