CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif.—The No. 10/11 University of Hawai`i softball team (12-2) lost twice on Friday night at the Cathedral City Classic. No. 18/22 Nebraska shut-out the 'Bows 3-0 and Syracuse stymied the 'Bows for a 3-2 win at the Field of Dreams' Yankee Field.
No. 18/22 Nebraska 3, No. 10/11 Hawai`i 0
Box Score
Husker's starter, Ashley Hagemann fired a one-hit shut-out over Hawai`i. She gave up an opening single to
Kelly Majam in the first inning and then held the 'Bows bats at bay. Except for Majam, no other UH runner was able to reach second base safely. Hagemann threw seven innings and had three walks and seven strike outs.
Hawai`i starting pitcher,
Kaia Parnaby mowed through the Husker line-up the first time through the order, not allowing a base runner with five strike outs, three ground outs and a foul pop-up. But in the fourth inning, Nebraska broke the scoreless game by posting a pair of runs. Nikki Haget and Julie Brechtel started the inning with back-to-back singles. The speedy Haget dropped a bunt single to third and Brechtel laced a single up the middle. Taylor Edwards followed with a ground-rule double that bounced over the fence in the rightfield corner to drive in Haget. Brechtel eventually scored on a wild pitch to give the Huskers a 2-0 lead.
Brechtel struck again in the top of the sixth with a solo home run to straight-away centerfield to extend the Huskers lead to 3-0.
Parnaby dropped to 4-1 on the season with the complete game loss. She gave up three runs on seven hits with no walks and nine strike outs.
Hawai`i is now 2-2 against ranked teams this season.
Syracuse 3, No. 10/11 Hawai`i 2
Box Score
The Rainbow Wahine jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
Jessica Iwata started things with a one-out single through the leftside of the infield. She then moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Alex Aguirre to shallow centerfield.
The Orange knotted the score at 1-1 on a sacrifice fly to centerfield hit by Hallie Gibbs to drive in Lisaira Daniels in the top of the third inning.
The score remained tied at 1-1 until the top of the seventh inning. After a fly-out to right, the 'Bows' defense imploded with five infield errors that allowed the Orange to score two crucial runs. Stephanie Watts reached on a fielding error on the pitcher and moved to second on an opposite field single through the leftside of the infield to put runners at first and second. Another fielding error on the pitcher loaded the bases and another error on the second baseman allowed Watts to score. Then, with the bases still loaded, Gibbs hit a grounder to third. The defense tried to turn two from home to one, but on the play, the runner at home was out but on the relay to first was wild, allowing Daniels to scoot home and push the Syracuse lead to 3-1.
Hawai`i was able to get one run back in the bottom of the seventh.
Sarah Robinson got a single up the middle to start the inning. She moved to second on a passed ball and went to third and scored on two wild pitches. But that was all the UH offense to produce.
Orange starter, Jenna Caira (6-1) gave up two runs on six hits with no walks and a career-high 16 strike outs. She stymied the 'Bows' bats with a mix a pitches featuring a heavy dose of change-ups.
Stephanie Ricketts (7-2) suffered her second loss of the season throwing a complete game. She gave up three runs on three hits with five walks and six strike outs.
Hawai`i concludes their play in the Cathedral City Classic tomorrow at 3:00 pm when they take on Virginia.
-UH-
