KANEOHE, HAWAII -- Azusa Pacific fought itself and longtime nemesis Hawaii Pacific to put together a most impressive comeback and win the Koolau Classic Softball Tournament by knocking off the Sea Warriors, 5-4, Monday evening.
Jennifer Stark's 2-out single to left field scored Jennifer Powell from third base in the bottom of the seventh to give the Cougars' the come-from-behind victory and the tourney title.
Four days ago, Azusa Pacific was far from consideration for the tourney championship. The Cougars opened the Koolau with just 1 victory in their first 3 games, suffering blowout defeats at the hands of Chaminade (5-0) and Concordia (7-1). However, the Cougars rallied with 2 victories on Saturday and 2 more today to comeback and write a Cinderella outcome for the tourney championship.
The Cougars assumed a 3-1 lead after 4 innings, thanks in part to a pair Jodi Miller singles in the third and fourth innings.
However, Azusa Pacific, which committed a whopping 7 errors in the game, fell apart in the fifth inning, committing 4 errors that led to 3 Hawaii Pacific unearned runs and a 4-3 Sea Warrior lead.
The Cougars tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when Powell led off with a triple down the right field line and later scored on a wild pitch. Two innings later, Powell scored the game-winning run, just as she had done earlier in the day in the Cougars' 1-0 victory over Hawaii-Hilo.
Senior pitcher Jodi Miller pitched 2.2 innings of shutout relief to pick up the win, her fourth in the tournament and fifth on the season. Junior Mandy Dorow started the game and pitched well, allowing 5 hits over 4.1 innings while striking out 3. However, she was victimized by the defense behind her and allowed 4 unearned runs.
At the plate, Stark was 3-for-4 with 1 RBI, the game-winner. Miller was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Powell was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored.
The Cougars have now won 4 straight and improve to 6-5 on the season. Meanwhile Hawaii Pacific falls to 8-3 with 2 of its losses coming at the hands of Azusa Pacific. The 2 wins are a small measure of revenge for Azusa Pacific, which lost the 1996 and 1997 NAIA regional championship playoff games to Hawaii Pacific and then later each season was eventually knocked out of the NAIA Championship Tourney by HPU again.
