|  Box Score

LAS CRUCES, N.M.—The No. 11/13 and top-seeded University of Hawai`i softball team (44-5, 17-3 WAC) opened their play in the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Tournament with a 5-1 win over San Jose State (27-27, 9-10 WAC) on Thursday, May 10 at the NM State Softball Complex. The game was delayed by a little over four hours due to soggy field conditions due to severe thunderstorms that rolled through Las Cruces last night. Senior pitcher Stephanie Ricketts (28-3) earned the complete game win.
 
Ricketts fired 7.0 innings and gave up one run on three hits with four walks and two strike outs. It was Ricketts' 30th complete game of the season.
 
The Spartans started the game by putting their first two batters on base via a walk and an fielding error. But Ricketts settled down and the defense stiffened with a pair of groundouts and a fly to right to thwart the rally.
 
Hawai`i responded by scoring one run in the first. Kelly Majam drew a walk and moved to third on an opposite-field double to the left-centerfield gap hit by Kayla Wartner. Sarah Robinson then drove in Majam with a sacrifice fly to left. The following batter, Jessica Iwata, was walked to put runners on first and second. But Alex Aguirre then hit a hard ground ball to the hot corner, and the SJSU third baseman fielded it, stepped on the bag and fired to first to get the speedy Aguirre out by a half-step.
 
San Jose State tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third on a solo home run by Breanna Lopez.
 
The 'Bows answered right back, posting three runs in the bottom of the frame. After a strike out, Majam laced an opposite-field single to left-centerfield. Wartner walked and Sarah Robinson loaded the bases with a single to leftfield. Iwata then came through with a hard hit single that hit off the backhand glove of the outstretched second baseman. The ball ricocheted into centerfield, allowing both Majam and Wartner to score. After another strike out, Leisha Li`ili`i battled at the plate and hit a chopper over the shortstop into leftfield to score Robinson from second.
 
UH added one more run in the fifth when Wartner and Iwata attempted a double-steal, but the shortstop missed a well-thrown ball to second for an error, allowing Wartner to score.
 
Amanda Pridmore, San Jose State's starter, also threw a complete game, tossing 7.0 innings, giving up five runs on five hits with five walks and seven strike outs.

San Jose State had advanced to face Hawai`i after defeating No. 5 seed Nevada, 9-6.
 
The Rainbow Wahine advance to the semifinal game to play the winner of the game between No. 2 BYU vs. Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters came back today to complete their lightning-suspended game last night, defeating No. 3 Fresno State, 17-7 in six innings. UH right now is scheduled to play at 2:00 p.m., but the schedule may change depending on how the games unfold tonight time-wise.