Box Score

HONOLULU - Northwestern pitcher, Eileeen Canney, struck out a career-high 17, and faced only 23 batters en route to a 5-0, one-hit, shut-out over the Rainbow Wahine softball team. For Hawai`i (14-13), Justine Smethurst took the loss, throwing 4.0 innings, giving up three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out two.

Northwestern (16-6) ended up with nine hits and were aided by five Hawai`i errors. The Wildcats broke open a scoreless game in the top of the fifth inning. Lead-off batter Tammy Williams led the inning off by drawing a walk. She moved to second on a stolen base. A fielding error on the shortstop put runners at first and second for Garland Cooper. Cooper proceeded to hit a single up the middle. Centerfielder Kaulana Gould came in on the due or die situation, but couldn't field the ball cleanly to try for the runner coming to the plate. Instead she tried to get the back runner at second, but misfired and the ball rolled all the way to the first base fence, allowing Logan to score on the throwing error, and giving Cooper second base. Paula Blanning then entered the game for Smethurst. Blanning got two quick outs on a line to the shortstop and a swinging strike out. With Cooper at third, sixth batter Sheila McCorkle laid a bunt down. Blanning threw wide to first, and Cooper scored the third run to push the score to 3-0, Wildcats.

In the sixth, Northwestern put the ball in play, linking base hits with fielder's choices and one sacrifice fly to score two more runs, to extend their lead to 5-0 going into the final frame. Ashley Crane led the inning off with a single to left. Darcy Sengewald then hit a ground ball to first baseman Tyleen Tausaga who fired to shortstop to get the lead runner at two, but the throw was muffed. That left runners on first and second with no outs. The next batter, Williams, executed a bunt that went off a diving Gould (who had moved to catcher) in fair territory to load the bases. Logan then hit a ground ball to Tausaga who cut down the lead runner at the plate for the first out of the inning. But the next batter, Cooper hit a single to left to score Sengewald from third. Kristen Amegin then hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Salamon for the final run of the game.

Hawai`i will now hit the road to Ruston, La. to take on Louisiana Tech in both team's first conference games. They will play a double-header starting at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 25, and a single game starting at 2:00 p.m. on March 26. UH leads the all-time series 12-3 with Hawai`i winning the last four.

While in Louisiana, the Rainbow Wahine will also take on Grambling State in a double header on Monday, March 27.

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