Thursday, April 12, 2001

Sea Warriors
turn tide on Seasiders

By Grace Wen
Star-Bulletin

The clouds threatened and so did Brigham Young-Hawaii, but the Hawaii Pacific Lady Sea Warriors' softball team held on to sweep the Seasiders in a doubleheader at HPU's Windward campus field yesterday.

Jessica Parra pitched a shutout in game one and came in as a reliever in the second game as HPU snapped a four-game losing streak and defeated BYUH, 3-0 and 8-7.

"I could have pitched better," said the freshman, who posted her seventh shutout of the year. "My team helped me out."

HPU improved to 30-10 and 15-3 in the PacWest Conference. The Seasiders, who swept the Sea Warriors last Saturday, fell to 15-30-1 and 4-14 in the PacWest.

"The big thing for us today was the bats, because our bats have been silent," head coach Howard Okita said. "Every time we would score, they would come right back and come closer. The bats really did the job for us."

Perhaps playing at home also helped.

The Sea Warriors are 23-1 at home but have struggled on the road, losing eight of their last 10 games away from Lady Sea Warrior Field.

Game one proved to be a pitcher's duel as neither pitcher surrendered a hit until the third inning.

Designated hitter Kiki Ishihara drew a walk to lead off the third and scored the only run HPU needed on a steal.

In game two, BYUH scored two runs in the first inning to take the early lead, but the Sea Warriors answered with two runs in each of the next two innings to take a 4-2 lead.

Freshman Malia Sullivan looked shaky throughout the game, but the bats of the Sea Warriors helped the freshman pick up her 15th win of the year.

The Sea Warriors padded their lead in the fifth with three more runs off a Seasider error and a bizarre fielder's choice.

With pinch runner Rachel Lacar at second base and Kristin Fujii at third, Ishihara hit a chopper in front of the plate that caught Fujii in a pickle between third and home. Fujii made it home as Ishihara was thrown out trying to advance to second. Lacar scored from second and beat the throw back to home for the second run.

The Seasiders rallied in the top of the seventh and closed to within one, but Holly Harn flied out to end the game.

Despite the losses, BYUH head coach Jackson Mapu was pleased with his team's performance.

"We just kept going at it and kept fighting," Mapu said. "The defense is very strong. They did a good job."

Baseball

Chico St. 14, Hawaii Pacific 9: At Chico, Calif., Corey Watts belted four hits and drove in three runs to lead the Wildcats over the Sea Warriors.

Bryce Uegawachi had two hits and three RBIs for HPU.

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