There were candidates galore for Player and Pitcher of the Week in PacWest softball, and for that matter, for Team of the Week too. Hawaii Pacific claimed the Team by virtue of their sweep of Azusa Pacific. Chaminade’s Keaolani Takemura is the Player of the Week after hitting .591 which included seven straight base knocks. Dominican’s Shelby Keltner is the Pitcher of the Week, going 2-0 with a save and did not give up a run in almost 15 innings.

2023 Results/Schedule
2023 Standings
2023 Statistics

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Chaminade’s Keaolani Takemura, INF/C, R/R, Jr., Pearl City, Hawaii            
Chaminade’s Keaolani Takemura swung a sizzling bat last week as the Silverswords split four games with Azusa Pacific. The junior utility player hit .591 (13-for-22) with four RBI, a double and two triples. Perhaps most impressively, she has a hit in seven consecutive trips to the plate, getting a hit in every at-bat during the March 7 doubleheader against the Cougars. That is a ‘Swords school record. She also went 3-for-3 in the second game of a twinbill with Baldwin Wallace. She is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and is hitting .411 on the season, second in the PacWest.

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Domincan’s Shelby Keltner, RHP, Sr., Redding, Calif.                                    
Dominican hurler Shelby Keltner helped her team to a trio of wins as the Penguins went 4-0 against Academy of Art and Biola. Keltner had two wins, a save and did not give up a run in 14.2 innings of work. The senior pitched complete game shutouts against both the Urban Knight and the Eagles, allowing a total of six hits in the two games. She gave up four hits and fanned seven against ART U, and allowed only two hits and struck out five versus the Eagles. In her third outing of the week against Biola, she faced two batters in the seventh, walking one and striking out two to get the save. On the season, the fourth-year pitcher is 4-5 with a 0.95 ERA and two saves.

SHARKS SWEEP COUGARS: The PacWest Team of the Week is the HAWAII PACIFIC SHARKS. Hawaii Pacific became the first island school to gain a 4-0 sweep of a southern California team in recent memory. The Sharks outscored the Cougars 22-9 in completing the 4-2, 5-2, 7-3, 6-2 wins. The Sharks also split a pair of games with Baldwin Wallace giving them a 5-1 record on the week, and they are now 9-16 overall and 5-7 in the PacWest. HPU hit a torrid .350 as a team in those six games including Tita Saunder’s .500 week with nine runs batted in. Alexis Oshiro also hit .500 and Tiari Hernandez (.435) and Brandi Leong (.412) were all over .400. Pitcher Taylor Thompson was 2-0 in three games with a 1.47 ERA.

PACWEST NEWS AND NOTES: Concordia was also unbeaten last week (2-0) with a doubleheader sweep of Holy Names. The second game of that twinbill went eight innings, with CUI’s Kaitlin Entrup going the distance with a one-hitter and 14 strikeouts…CS Monterey Bay swept a non-conference doubleheader from Academy of Art…Domincan was flawless in the field in their four games, handling over 100 chances without an error…DUC’s Kate Tobolo hit .400 last week with five RBI…Chaminade’s Jaeda Cabunoc was a prime Pitcher of the Week candidate with a 2-0 record and 0.00 ERA. She pitched 16 innings, allowed 15 hits, one walk and struck out four…HNU’s Giana Quintanar pitched very well in the 1-0 loss to Concordia, throwing 6.1 innings and allowing only four hits and no runs…Kamielle Powell pitched well despite going 0-1 on the week for Academy of Art. Powell pitched 7.1 innings, allowed seven hits, one earned run and she struck out three…Although the results are certainly not balanced right now in terms of games played, the top three squads with winning records in conference play are Dominican (4-0), Concordia (12-2) and Biola (9-3).

THIS WEEK IN THE PACWEST: There are mostly all non-conference games on the schedule during the week, although Azusa Pacific visits Hawaii Hilo for a 4-game series beginning today (Monday). Towards the end of the week, Academy of Art travels to APU, Hilo is at Hawaii Pacific and Concordia plays at Biola.