HILO — When Kristina Victa’s on first and Rebecca Lee’s at the plate, the University of Hawaii at Hilo is usually ready to put a play into motion and wreck havoc with it’s top-of-the-order table-setters.
But in the case of Sunday’s scoreless game against Chaminade, not everybody was on the same page. When Lee took the first pitch she saw, softball coach Jaime Wallin raised her hands in exasperation because of the apparent lack of communication. One pitch later, Victa was thrown out stealing, ending any potential rally.
It was a sign — a missed one, at least — that this just wasn’t going to be the Vulcans’ day on a sun-drenched afternoon on their softball field.
A pair of critical one-run losses later, 1-0 and 5-4, Wallin was exasperated again, and she apologized to her team after it fell out of first place in the Pacific West Conference.
“Physically and mentally, we just weren’t prepared to play,” Wallin said. “Whenever the team loses, it’s on the coach.
“It’s my responsibility to prepare them. It won’t happen again.”
It’s hard to determine which loss was more painful.
Silverswords sophomore shortstop Rayna Strom-Okimoto provided a sudden, big blow in the first game, cranking a home run to left field in the eighth inning off Vanessa Salinas. In the second game, the Vulcans (35-17, 21-7) seemingly lost their grip piece by piece in losing a 4-0 lead.
With four games left to play, UH-Hilo fell percentage points behind Grand Canyon (19-5) in the PacWest, but the Vulcans are two back in the loss column and tied with Dixie State in second place.
“If these games weren’t must-win, they all are now,” Wallin said.
UH-Hilo gets a two-week break before meeting up again with the Silverswords (25-17, 17-9) for an April 28 doubleheader in Honolulu.
“I thought one of the main differences was Chaminade came in with fire and energy and a willingness to compete,” Wallin said.
Both teams were coming off busy stretches on the mainland that included playing at the Tournament of Champions, and each will anxiously await the release of the West Regional rankings.
Chaminade coach Kent Yamaguchi said his team rode a wave of momentum into Hilo after finishing its trip 13-3. The eighth-year coach couldn’t remember a time when his club had swept UH-Hilo on the road.
“The team worked hard getting ready for these games,” Yamaguchi said. “We’re still in the (regional) mix, so it’s not hard to motivate them.”
While Wallin said UH-Hilo could use the time off to its advantage “to relight the fire,” the Vulcans also will try to find a way to figure out ace left-hander Brett Aspel, who hurled 12 2/3 scoreless innings in picking up victories on both ends of the doubleheader.
Aspel (14-10) outdueled Salinas (19-6) in a four-hitter and walked only one with four strikeouts in the first game.
Kailtyn Watanabe started opposite UH-Hilo left-hander Ashley Nelson in the second game, but Aspel and Salinas finished the contest. Aspel allowed only two hits in 4 2/3 innings and got the win after Kori Berinobis’ RBI single off Salinas capped Chaminade’s rally.
Aspel used an effective riseball to keep hitters off-balance and didn’t need strikeouts to be effective — she had none in the second game.
Nelson (12-10) gave up 11 hits and all five runs in taking the loss. Trailing 4-1, the first five batters for Chaminade reached on singles in the fifth, with Aja Keyes’s two-run single tying the score.
The game marked a successful homecoming for Chaminade’s Tuma Enos and Chelsea Camello.
Batting fifth at designated hitter in each game, Enos, a senior graduate from Pahoa, finished 1-for-6 with a walk and a double and was hit by a pitch. Camello is the Silverswords’ third pitcher, but Yamaguchi made a point of getting the freshman into the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning of Game 2, and the Waiakea graduate grounded out.
