EL PASO, Texas - The UH softball team (26-20, 7-5 WAC) swept its second consecutive WAC road series today, defeating UTEP (17-28, 3-6 WAC) 9-1 in five innings.
Melissa Coogan (13-9, 4-3 WAC) earned the win by throwing four-plus innings, giving up one run on 10 Miner hits with one walk and no strike outs.
Kate Robinson came in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game. UTEP's Veronica Flournoy took the loss for the Miners.
Hawai`i was held scoreless for the first two innings. But in the third, they erupted for three runs. Denise Dahlberg started things off with a one-out single to the shortstop. Kaulana Gould was then hit-by-a-pitch, which let Tyleen Tausaga step to the plate. Tausaga roped a single up the middle to score Dahlberg from second. Two batters later, Louise Harriden drove a single to leftfield to score Gould from third. Noelle Izumi then hit a single to left to score Tausaga from third, but Izumi was thrown out at second on the play to end the inning. The score after three innings was UH 3, UTEP 0.
In the fourth, UH extended its lead to 7-0. Valana Manuma led the inning off with a walk, and was moved to second on an infield hit by Tara Harbert. Manuma advanced on an errant throw on the play, leaving runners in a first-and-third situation. Harbert stole second base and then with runners on second and third, Tracie Uchima hit a ground ball to the UTEP shortstop who bobbled it, but Manuma scored on the play, but Harbert had to stay at second. Both Harbert and Uchima moved up a base when the UTEP catcher overthrew their pitcher on a regular pitch. Dahlberg stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly to leftfield to score Harbert. Three batters later, Tausaga drew a two-out walk. Ruff then hit a double to right-center to score both Uchima and Tausaga.
The Miners, who had ten hits in the game, tried to mount a rally in the third inning. UTEP's Denise Emmons led the inning off with a single down the leftfield line. Karen Sjostrom took Emmons place as a pinch runner. She moved to second on a base hit to center by Jennifer Davis. Sarah Ramirez followed with another hit to center, but Harbert gunned out Sjostrom with a one-hop throw to catcher Dahlberg. The Miners were able to load the bases in the inning, but Hawai`i was able to squelch the rally, with a ground out to Coogan on the mound.
UTEP broke a string of 15 consecutive scoreless innings when DeAnna Camacho scored in the fourth inning on a line drive to right. Rightfielder Uchima tried to double out the runner at second, and Camacho scampered home safely to make the score 7-1.
The knock-out punch came in the top of the fifth inning, when Manuma hit her first collegiate home run over the leftfield fence. Also scoring on the homer was Izumi who reached on a single earlier in the inning, making the score 9-1. It was Manuma's first game back after missing 13 games. On March 19th, Manuma was trying to make a tag at second, but got cleated in the thigh. The gash required several stitches, and she made her return to the field today.
Offensively, Hawai`i was led by Izumi who was 3-3 with one run scored and one RBI; Harriden went 2-3 with one RBI; Ruff had a double in three at-bats with two RBI, and Manuma was 1-2 with a home run and two RBI.
For Hawai`i it was the first time that they've swept two series in a row since 2003. It was the third-straight game that the squad had 11 hits or more.
The Rainbow Wahine return home tomorrow, and will face the Lady Techsters of Louisiana Tech in a three-game series starting this coming Friday, April 22 at 6:00 pm.
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