Box Score

FRESNO, Calif. - In the top of the seventh, down 1-0, Tyleen Tausaga led the inning off with a line drive home run that went over the rightfield bleachers to tie the game at 1-1. Alana Power then came through in the clutch with a two out, two run double to propel UH to a 3-1 win over No.2 seed, San Jose State. Courtney Baughman came in relief of Justine Smethurst and picked up the win by shutting down the Spartans in the final two innings at the WAC Championship tournament in Fresno, Calif.

In the bottom of the third, the Spartans tried to mount a rally. Carlie Hill led the inning off with a walk. Lorena Martinez came in to pinch run for Hill. The next batter, Kristi Ballinger hit a ground ball to short, but the only play was to first. Sarah Taylor then hit a single up the middle to put runners at the corners. The Spartans were back at the top of their line up when Courtney Lewis stepped up to the plate. She hit a shallow fly to left for the second out of the inning. Danielle Eakins was hit by a pitch to load the bases. But Smethurst got Brittany McConnell to go down swinging to end the rally.

San Jose State broke the scoreless game in the bottom of the sixth when Carlie Hill hit a home run over the leftfield fence to lift SJSU to a 1-0 lead after five innings. The next two batters got on with a single and a walk, but both were gunned down by Kristi Yoshizawa when they tried to steal second. Smethurst gave up two more hits--a single by Courtney Lewis and a double to right-centerfield by Danielle Eakins-- but she got the final out of the inning on a fly ball to centerfield.

In the top of the seventh, Tausaga led the inning off with the home run shot that knotted the game at 1-1. It was the first extra-base hit allowed by San Jose State in the game. Two batters later, Kaulana Gould hit a single to rightfield. Two batters after that with Gould still at first, Kate Robinson hit a single to left. On the play, the leftfielder slipped as she tried to stop the ball, and it rolled past her. Both runners were in scoring position for Power, who ripped a high, inside fastball off the base of the leftfield fence for a double. Both Gould and Robinson scored to put Hawai`i up 3-1.

Baughman then got the leadoff hitter of the inning, Sarah Taylor to hit a line drive straight to Gould in center. Then Baughman struck out the final two batters to end the game.

San Jose State's Kelly Harrison held the Rainbow Wahine scoreless by scattering three hits through the first six innings. UH did not have a runner reach third base, until Tausaga's blast in the seventh. Harrison threw 6.2 innings, gave up no walks and struck out one.

After throwing her third perfect game of the season in Hawai`i's first game against Louisiana Tech, Smethurst threw the first five innings of tonight's game. She gave up one run on five hits while walking one and striking out five. Baughman threw 2.0 innings and yielded no runs, gave up two hits, and struck out two.

Tausaga's home run was the 41st of the year for the Rainbow Wahine. That broke the school's single-season team home run record of 40 set in 2003.

The Rainbow Wahine now play tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. against the winner of Game 6. Game 6 has Louisiana Tech (loser of Game 1) playing the No.1 Fresno State, who was upset by No.4 Nevada, 2-1 last night.

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