Tucson, Ariz. - In the final game of the Worth Wildcat Invitational, Hawai'i battled all game long, only to lose a heartbreaker, 2-1 in eight innings to No.2 Arizona.
The Wildcats got on the board right off the bat, scoring one run in the top of the first. Autumn Champion drew a one-out walk, stole second and scored on a single up the middle by Kristie Fox.
Arizona power pitcher, Alicia Hollowell (5-0) baffled Hawai'i batters. Between the first and third innings, Hollowell struck out seven UH players in a row. She ended the extra inning game fanning 17 Hawai'i hitters.
In the top of the sixth, Tracie Uchima drove a home run over the right-centerfield fence right under the scoreboard of Hillenbrand Stadium, knotting the score at 1-1. The homer was the second in her UH career.
Hawai'i, with renewed vigor off of Uchima's home run came out in the bottom of the sixth and played inspired defense. After giving up a perfectly-placed bunt single, pitcher Melissa Coogan turned a 1-6-3 ground-out double play. Then, Arizona's clean-up hitter, Jackie Coburn hit a deep fly to center that tested the limits of the ballpark, only to have Tara Harbert make a leaping catch on a dead-run a few steps from the wall.
The Wildcats had a chance to end the game in the seventh. The first two batters reached on singles, leaving Hawai'i with two runners on and no outs. Candace Abrams promptly hit a screaming line drive down the leftfield line, but leftfielder Kaulana Gould chased it down in full stride, made the backhanded catch, and kept the runners at their original base. Coogan then got the next two batters out on two consecutive ground-outs to first baseman Tyleen Tausaga.
In the eighth, the game went into international tie-breaking play - with the last runner out from the inning before starting the inning at second. UH had Kristi Yoshizawa at second. She was pushed to third on a sacrifice bunt executed by Gould. But Yoshizawa was stranded there when Hollowell struck out the next two.
Arizona put Adrienne Acton on second. Caitlin Lowe then reached safely to first on a bunt single, moving Acton to third. Lowe stole second, leaving UH with runners on second and third, no outs. Hawai'i thrawted the first run on a fielder's choice in which Noelle Izumi through out Acton trying to score on the grounder to second. But Kristie Fox hit a sacrifice fly to right center, scoring Lowe from third.
Hawai'i's defense and pitching by Coogan (2-2) held Arizona's potent offense scoreless for six innings. Coogan threw the complete game, giving up two runs on six hits, with two walks and three strike outs.
Hawai'i drops to 6-6, going 3-5 on this road trip that spanned Las Vegas, Nev., Tempe and Tucson, Ariz. The Rainbow Wahine return home tomorrow at 12:31 pm on United Flt.53 from Los Angeles, Calif.
Game statistics
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