Hawaii Pacific, winless until just this week, could have been classified as surging, while UH-Hilo, winners of its first eight, were slumping until Chloe Domingo stepped to the plate during a tide-turning fourth inning.
Domingo clubbed a three-run home run Friday and Sara Bhatt delivered the most important start of her freshman season as the Vulcans beat the Sharks for a productive doubleheader softball split in Kaneohe, Oahu.
The Vuls (12-5 Pacific West Conference Hawaii pod) had lost four of five and were trailing until Domingo’s first homer of the season vaulted them ahead 3-2, scoring Markie Okamoto, who reached on an error, and Vevesi Liilii, who singled.
UHH wasn’t done.
Taisha Bratton singled and took third on Alana Alvarez’s pinch-hit double. Angel Prewitt’s sacrifice fly and a error made it a five-run inning, and that was enough for Bhatt, who allowed six hits and three walks with a strikeout in going the distance.
Okamoto collected two of UHH’s 10 hits off Megan Wilson (1-5).
According to coach Callen Perreira, the Vuls need two more wins to secure a spot in the conference’s regional-qualifying pod tournament.
In the first game, senior right-hander Valerie Alvarado showed improvement after consecutive poor outings, but Malia Torres (2-5) held UHH in check in a 3-2 win, completing a seven-hitter for the Sharks (3-10).
Alvarado didn’t give up a hit until the third inning and didn’t allow a run until the fourth. In six innings, she allowed seven hits, including Mary Dungey’s game-tying double with two outs in the sixth. After two walks loaded the bases, pinch-hitter Cherise Horita’s single to second gave HPU the lead.
Alvarado struck out three and walked three.
The Vuls built a 2-0 lead on run-scoring singles by Kiarra Lincoln and Liilii in the third. Lincoln also doubled in the fourth but was stranded.
The teams have noon doubleheaders Saturday and Sunday.
• UH-Hilo men’s tennis team will play for the PacWest title for the third time in as many tries after beating Hawaii Pacific 4-1 on Friday in Arizona.
Next for the Vulcans (7-2) is top-seeded Azusa Pacific (16-3), which has won 13 matches in a row, including a 4-3 win against the Vuls in March.
The Vulcans grabbed the all-important doubles point with wins on court three and two, both by 6-4 scores. Chun En Wu and Alessio Demichelis edged Kilian Maitre and Ryohei Arai at No. 3, and Luca Checchia and Joshua Liu were the victors at No. 2 over Felix Einig and Cheng-Cheih Wang.
Down 1-0, the Sharks quickly evened the match when UHH’s Demichelis was forced to retire in the first set with an injury. The team scores stayed at 1-1 for quite some time, as the other five courts were slugfests.
On court one, UHH’s Martin Soukal provided the next Vulcans point with a 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over Benjamin Loccisano. Santiago Di Loreto gave the Vulcans a 3-1 lead on court six with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Wang.
That triumph would come on court four when Checchia won a overtime second set with a 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) win over Marcel Hornung.
• Golfer Dustin Franko earned a trip to regionals, though his teammates are staying home.
Franko, a junior from Delta, British Columbia, was UHH’s top scorer (72.93), finished second at the Hawaii Challenge and the Pearl Collegiate Classic. He tied for sixth earlier this week at the PacWest championships.
Seeking a berth in the NCAA championships, he’ll compete at the South Central/West Regional from May 6-8 in DuPont, Wash.
After finishing second to Academy of Art at the PacWest finals by two strokes, they fell short one place of qualifying for the regional.