Obviously, there is no hitter UH-Hilo’s softball team would rather have at the plate with the game hanging in the balance than all-conference slugger Bailey Gaspar.
Obviously, there is no hitter UH-Hilo’s softball team would rather have at the plate with the game hanging in the balance than all-conference slugger Bailey Gaspar.
One might have figured one of Hawaii Pacific’s first preferences in such a situation would have been Mae Kaleikini, a 5-foot-3 freshman right fielder – but not anymore.
The Vulcans mastered the art of walk-off wizardry Sunday courtesy of their Nos. 9 and 3 hitters, securing their first home doubleheader sweep of the season in dramatic fashion.
Or, as coach Callen Perreira called it: “heart attack city.”
Kaleikini slammed a two-run homer in the ninth inning for a 3-1 victory, and Gaspar slapped a seventh-inning RBI single for a 3-2 win to send the Sharks packing.
On a sunny day in which the Vulcans (19-19, 10-12 Pacific West Conference) sported pink to honor breast cancer survivors and increased their winning to streak to five, heroes came in all shapes and sizes.
“She came up big,” Perreira said of Kaleikini, a Moanalua (Oahu) graduate. “But she’s very capable. That was a big hit for us and for her career.”
None of the late-game excitement would have been possible without the strong contributions of pitchers Cyanne Fernandez (5-3) and Leah Gonzales (6-5).
“They both gutted it out and got outs when they needed to,” Perreira said.
Fernandez featured pinpoint control and didn’t walk a batter with six strikeouts in nine innings, allowing seven hits, including Noelani Boyer’s home run.
The game seemed destined for a 10th frame when the first two Vulcans were retired, but Maria Steadmon coaxed a walk and up stepped Kaleikini, who was just trying to get on base for the top of the lineup.
Instead she ripped a 3-2 pitch over the left-field fence for her second home run of the season.
“I was literally thinking ground ball, hit a shot some place and make something happen, and it was a lot bigger,” she said.
If Kaleikini ever hit a walk-off homer in her Moanalua days, she couldn’t remember it.
While Gonzales was dealing in the second game, so was Shannon Curry for the Sharks (18-18, 7-13).
Each took advantage of what appeared to be a large strike zone, and Curry had the Vulcans swinging over pitches, holding then without a hit until Kaleikini singled with two outs in the fifth.
“She had a very good dropball,” Kaleikini said. “We needed to make adjustments and we did.
“Making adjustments goes well with our team when we execute.”
UH-Hilo got a break for a two-spot in the sixth. Gaspar walked, Cristina Menjivar singled and Gonzales won a lengthy battle with Curry for a walk to load the bases. Danielle Pulido’s grounder to first looked like a sure force out at home for the second out, but the throw to the plate skipped off the catcher’s glove, allowing two runs to score.
Gonzales was one out from a shutout when Sierra Dias laced a two-run double to left to tie the game.
“We always battle back,” Kaleikini said. “We always give it our all to the last pitch.
“Anytime we drop our heads, we are there for each other.”
She struck out to begin the seventh, and this time she did turn the game over to the top of the lineup.
Karla Ishii walked, Mari Kawano singled to center field and Gaspar – a .345 hitter with 10 home runs – sent a pitch the opposite way to right field, scoring Kawano from second on a close play at the plate.
UH-Hilo can build off its momentum against Chaminade at noon Saturday in its final home games of the season.
”Don’t settle for less,” Kaleikini said. “We can always achieve more.”