HONOLULU - Hawai`i's
Shannon Tabion and
Melissa Coogan tossed back-to-back complete-game wins tonight in the second day of the Hawai`i Invitational knocking off Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education, 11-2, and Wisconsin, 2-0.
In the opener, Tabion scattered five hits while striking out seven and walking two.
UH jumped all over Tokyo starting pitcher Mariko Uzawa as she faced only three batters in the first inning and didn't record an out. Tokyo's Yuie Kamiya came on and went the final five innings allowing 13 hits and eight runs.
Hawai`i scored five times in the first inning highlighted by a Kate Judd two-run homer to center.
UH added two more runs in the second, fourth, and fifth innings to capture the shortened game due to the 8-run rule.
The only two runs for Tokyo came in the fourth inning when Tabion walked Mina Kowatari with one out and gave up a two-run shot off the bat of Sayaka Fujikawa to straight-away center field.
In the nightcap, Coogan (13-5) shutout out Wisconsin striking out one and walking one while the Badger offense mustered only four hits.
It was a pitchers' duel for five innings between Coogan and UW's Katie Layne (2-3) until Hawai`i scored two unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth.
April Crowell got the rally started after two outs singling to deep shortstop. Erica Bonilla came in to pinch run and moved up one base on a walk issued to Stacey Porter. Judd's single to second loaded the bases. Denise Dahlberg then hit a high chopper to UW second baseman Emily Friedman who elected to go to second for the force but threw it into left field allowing both Bonilla and Porter to plate.
The Rainbow Wahine improved to 16-11 and 2-1 in the tourney (the Tokyo game does not count on record nor individual stats).
UH plays Ohio State Saturday at 1 p.m. before the seeding for the championship round begins.