UHH’s Salinas Earns PacWest’s Weekly Pitcher’s Award

University of Hawai`i at Hilo junior pitcher Vanessa Salinas was awarded the PacWest Conference / Hawai`i Tourism Authority Pitcher of the Week award in softball for the eighth week of the season.

The award was announced Monday night by the conference and recognizes games played from March 18 – 24.

Salinas pitched a pair of complete game shutouts against Azusa Pacific University on March 22 and 23. In the first game, the right-hander allowed just two hits and struck out five in the Vulcans’ 3-0 win over the Cougars. She also had a run batted in to help her own cause.

In her second outing of the series, she allowed only four hits while striking out two and walking a batter in UH Hilo’s 6-0 victory. She also added the offense’s exclamation point with a sixth-inning home run, her first of the season.

On the season, the Vulcans’ ace has a 13-5 record and a 1.46 earned run average in 124 1/3 innings. Her ERA is second best in the conference behind Rita Kim’s 1.31 average for Azusa Pacific. She is also second in the conference in opponent batting average (.213) and innings pitched. Her 13 wins is tied for the most in the conference.

UH Hilo enters Tuesday’s games against Holy Names University in a tie at the top of the conference standings. The Vulcans, along with Grand Canyon University, both sit at 15-5 on the season. Dixie State follows with a 16-6 record. GCU is idle today while Dixie State hosts Southern Utah in a pair of non-conference games, meaning the Vulcans can take sole possession of first place with at least one victory against the Hawks, who are 6-8 in conference action and 11-25 overall.