Box Score

HONOLULU - The University of Hawai`i softball team (1-4) couldn't hold off No. 19/17 LSU's late game charge. The 'Bows fell to the Tigers, 6-5, in nine innings on the final day of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Saturday.

Hawai`i regrouped and bounced back from their 14-0 loss to No. 10/6 Oklahoma earlier in the day. The 'Bows battled hard against LSU in the tournament's third place game. UH actually had a 5-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh, but couldn't hold on for the win. 
 

LSU started with a bang when Kirsten Shortridge led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right.

 

UH pitcher Courtney Baughman then settled down and retired 13 of the next 14 batters in a row.

 

Hawai`i tied the game at 1-1 off a throwing error on a grounder back to the pitcher that allowed Amanda Tauali`i to score from second.

 

In the fifth, the 'Bows took the lead, 2-1. Tanisha Milca reached first on a single up the middle. She was pushed to second on a sacrifice bunt executed by Richie-Anne Titcomb. Clare Warwick followed by lacing a double down the leftfield line to drive in Milca.

 

UH got two more runs the following inning off an RBI double to left by Milca that drove in Julie Franklin (who was hit by the pitch) and Alex Aguirre (who had reached on an error). Warwick scored Hawai`i's final run in the top of the seventh. She reached first after getting beaned, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Melissa Gonzalez, then scored on a rightfield single by Franklin. On the play, Warwick scored when Franklin's hit ricocheted off the second baseman and rolled into foul territory.

With their backs against the wall, the LSU Tigers began the last inning, with back-to-back doubles that led to two early runs. UH pitcher Courtney Baughman, then got the next two outs on grounders to third. But it was a costly throwing error to first, off a grounder to short, with runners at the corners, that allowed a run to score and prolong the inning. Soon afterward, LSU's Applegate hit a two-run single to left to knot the game at 5-5.

Both sides were held scoreless in the eighth, but in the ninth, UH had its best chance when the international tie-break runner, Richie-Anne Titcomb, sprinted around third to try to score of a single by Melissa Gonzalez. But the relay from the outfield cutdown Titcomb at the plate for the innings first out. Brittan Mack then got the final two outs on a strike out and a ground out to first.

 

OU scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth after Baughman walked three batters, including the one that forced the run in, to end the game.

 

Baughman threw the entire 8.1 inning game, giving up six runs (two earned) with five walks and a strike out.

 

LSU's  Cody Trahan threw the first 4.0 innings, giving up one run on three his with four walks and two strikeouts. Mack earned the win, throwing the final 5.0 innings. She gave up four runs on seven hits with a walk and six strike outs.

 

UH now hits the road for two tournaments. First up is the UNLV Louisville Slugger Desert Classic, Feb. 11-13. They will then head to Los Angeles, Calif. where they will play LMU in a single, mid-week game before starting the Cathedral City Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. Feb. 19-21.

 

Hawai`i returns home to host an exhibition game against Tokyo W.C.P.E. on Feb. 26 at 6:00 pm before starting the Bank of Hawaii Invitational, Feb. 27-Mar.1.

 

In the first game of the day, UAB got a three run home run in the bottom of the seventh by Amanda Allen to down the LSU Tigers, 5-3.

 

And, in the Championship Game, Oklahoma won 13-1 in five innings over UAB. The Sooners' final four games were all mery-rule ended in five innings.

 

 

 

P - Lindsey Croft, UAB

P - Kirsten Allen, Oklahoma

INF - Cameron Skates, UAB

INF - Julianna Santos, LSU

INF - Clare Warwick, UH

INF - Dani Dobbs, Oklahoma

INF - Lindsay Vandever, Oklahoma

OF - Martina Landrum, UAB

OF - Kirsten Shortridge, LSU

OF - Krystle Huey, Oklahoma

At-Large - Katie Norris, Oklahoma

 

Most Valuable Pitcher - D.J. Mathis, Oklahoma

 

Most Valuable Player - Amber Flores, Oklahoma