RUSTON, La. - The University of Hawai'i softball team (12-17, 1-1) split a doubleheader today in Ruston, La. In the conference opener for both teams, UH's freshman pitcher
Stephanie Ricketts fired her first career no-hitter en route to a 3-0 win. But in the second game, La Tech bounced back to win 8-1 at the Lady Techster Softball Complex this afternoon.
The 'Bows scored all three runs in the top of the second, and that was all Ricketts needed as she was faced just 22 batters. Only a walk to start the fifth inning blemished the scorebook and prevented a perfect game. Ricketts had just the one walk with one strike out, and UH's infield was able to do the rest as no ball reached the outfield, converting 16 ground outs and four pop-ups.
The offense was able to rack up seven hits, but was only able to capitalize in the second inning. Kanani Pu'u-Warren started the inning with a single to short.
Audrey Andrade pushed her to second with a sacrifice bunt, then back-to-back walks to
Dara Pagaduan and
Katie Grimes loaded the bases for
Richie-Anne Titcomb who got an RBI single to leftfield to score Pu'u-Warren.
Tanisha Milca then walked to score Pagaduan. Later, with two outs,
Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu drove in the final run with a single to centerfield.
For La Tech, Krissi Oliver (5-8, 0-1 WAC) suffered the loss in a complete game effort. She gave up three runs on seven hits with five walks and seven strike outs.
In the second game of the doubleheader, the Lady Techsters' Meghan Krieg earned a complete game victory as they defeated UH, 8-1. She shut down the 'Bows, striking out a career-high 14 batters, while scattering three hits and walking three.
La Tech got on the scoreboard first in the first inning. Emma Barnes led the game off by drawing a walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt executed by Danielle Sheridan. After a strike out, Kylie Bassett hit a ball to short, but an error allowed Barnes to score the unearned run.
Louisiana Tech started the third inning with three consecutive hits that all proved to be costly. Barnes reached on a single to first, then came all the way around to score on a double to the left-centerfield gap by Sheridan. Amberly Waits followed with another double, this one to centerfield to score Sheridan from second. Waits' hit chased UH starter
Courtney Baughman, and Ricketts came in to try to put out the fire. The first batter she faced was beaned to put runners at first and second. But then she was able to induce Oliver to ground into a double play for the inning's first two outs. Jessica Kirby then got a single to score Waits from third for the third and final run of the inning that increased La Tech's lead to 4-0.
Hawai'i got one run back in the fifth, on back-to-back doubles first by
Julie Franklin and then by Milca. Both were down the leftfield line, with the latter driving in Franklin from second to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Ricketts walked the first two batters in the fifth, and a single by Bassett loaded the bases. An error at third allowed both Sheridan and Waits to score with runners remaining at second and third. Kirby then ground out to second, but Bassett scored from third. UH got the second out on a 3-1-3 put out, but it allowed Oliver to score from third to make the score 8-1.
Three Hawai'i pitchers worked in the second game. Baughman (5-7, 0-1) suffered the loss, throwing 2.0 innings. She gave up four runs on three hits with a walk and three strike outs. It was her first action on the mound in two weeks. Ricketts then came in to throw three innings, giving up four runs—all of which were unearned—on two hits with two walks and a strike out. Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu closed the game, giving up just one hit.
The two teams square off tomorrow afternoon at 3:00 pm in the deciding game of the three-game series.
-UH-
