HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i opened up with a convincing 9-3 win over Utah tonight in the first day of the Hawaii Invitational at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

UH's Shannon Tabion (11-3) went the distance limiting the Ute offense four hits, including two solo homers while striking out eight.

The Rainbow Wahine took advantage of a low setting sun on the horizon in the first inning as the Ute first baseman had trouble handling throws across the diamond from both the third baseman and the pitcher. Hawai`i scored two unearned runs on three errors along with a RBI single by Tyleen Tausaga.

Utah tied the game at two with solo home runs by Glennis Donnelly in the first and Devina Quintero in the second.

UH then exploded for three runs in the third and four more in the fourth chasing Utah starter Brianna Gourdin (5-3). UU's Melissa Oakes came on in the fourth and finished up the game.

Hawai`i got big performance tonight at the plate from Tausaga and Stacey Ritter. Tausaga went 3-for-4 with four RBI and scored three times. Ritter went 3-for-4 collecting three RBI, two coming on her fourth homer of the season in the third inning.

Hawai`i improves to 16-14 on the season and 1-0 in the invite while Utah falls to 7-17 and 0-2.

The Rainbow Wahine play two games on Friday beginning at 5 p.m. against Tokyo W.C.P.E. followed by Northwestern at 7 p.m. Both games will be shown live on KFVE-TV (Ch. 5) with Jim Leahey (play-by-play) and Lori Santi (color).