LAIE, Hawaii -- Five seniors took the spotlight in BYU-Hawaii's final home appearance of the season, leading the Seasiders to a doubleheader sweep of Azusa Pacific today, 1-0 and 6-5 in eight innings. The Seasiders scored the winning run on their last at-bat in both games.
Senior Natalie Mordwinow, a walk-on playing her only season for BYU-Hawaii, twirled a crafty 1-hitter in the first game to lead the Seasiders. Mordwinow allowed only a third-inning bunt single by Justine Barnett and never allowed a Cougar base runner past second base as she kept the visitors off-balance with a variety of speeds and locations. Though she didn't strike out a Cougar, Mordwinow retired the final 10 batters of the game to pick up her first win as a Seasider and improve to 1-4 on the season.
The Seasiders managed only 5 hits off Cougar ace Kris Franks but the last one, a single by freshman Melissa Lehano with 2 outs in the bottom of the seventh, set the stage for the win. Senior Kim Brimhall then hit a sharp ground ball that skipped through the Cougar first baseman Jessica Mikesell's legs and then got away from the right fielder Courtney Cleaves as well, allowing Lehano to round the bases and score the winning run from first base.
In the second game, senior Echo Allred pitched a complete game for the win and singled home the winning run as well with no outs in the bottom of the eighth to complete the sweep for BYU-Hawaii. Allred, known far more for her pitching than her hitting, drilled a single up the middle to score Lehano from second base after a Cassie Sweeney error and a fielder's choice put Lehano in scoring position.
Azusa Pacific rallied for 5-3 lead by scoring 3 runs in the top of the seventh inning. Cougar pitcher Camille Hundley led off the inning with a double and came home when Cleaves followed with a double to centerfield to tie the game at 3-3. Back-to-back singles by Barnett and Mikesell put the Cougars head 4-3 and with 2 outs Barnett trotted home with an insurance run on a throwing error by Seasider second baseman Tiana Mattos.
However, BYU-Hawaii rallied in the bottom of the seventh. Another Seasider senior Sherri Howell lofted her first home run of the year off the top of the right field fence to close the gap to one run with one out. After Hundley struck out a Seasider to move to within 1 out of the victory, BYU-Hawaii junior Clairissa Bruce smacked a double off the right-centerfield fence. Freshman McCaye Tobler sent the game into extra innings when she laced another double down the left field line to score Bruce.
With the sweep BYU-Hawaii snaps an 8-game losing streak and improves to 10-24 on the season, while the Cougars fall to 17-16.
