RUSTON, La.—The University of Hawai`i softball team (30-13, 8-4 WAC) split its Western Athletic Conference doubleheader on Saturday with Louisiana Tech (12-30, 3-9 WAC). The 'Bows won the first game, 4-0, but fell in the second game, 1-0 at Lady Techster Softball Complex.
Hawai`i 4, Louisiana Tech 0
The Rainbow Wahine raised their record to 30-12 overall and 8-2 in conference action with a 4-0 win over Louisiana Tech in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader. Starting pitcher
Kaia Parnaby fired a four-hit shut-out while tying her career-high with 12 strike outs.
Parnaby started the game by getting the first seven outs on strike outs. She scattered four hits with four walks and faced just 28 batters to raise her record to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in conference.
The Lady Techsters tried to rally in the top of the first. Leadoff batter, Kendra Harmon led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on an illegal pitch and advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a strike out, Parnaby walked Janna Frandup to put runners at the corners. But the Aussie southpaw would settle down to strike out the final two batters to thwart the scoring threat.
Hawai`i then got on the scoreboard first, posting a run in the top of the second.
Jenna Rodriguez led the inning off by drawing a walk. Then after a pop-out and a swinging strike out, Alex Aguirre worked for a walk to bring up
Kelly Majam with runners at first and second. Majam battled at the plate, fouling off several pitches before lacing a single up the middle to drive in Rodriguez from second for the 1-0 lead.
The 'Bows added two more runs in the top of the third on Rodriguez's second home run of the series. Iwata started the inning by getting a walk. Two outs later, Rodriguez launched a high fly ball that sailed right over the left-centerfield fence to give UH a 3-0 lead.
The Lady Techsters then tried to mount a rally of their own. After a strike out, Harmon got her second single of the day on a shallow fly to left and Charday Wilson walked to put runners at first and second. A fly out to right gave the 'Bows their second out, but Allie Geisler drew the second walk of the inning to load the bases. But Parnaby then caught Heather Doiron looking at strike three to squelch the rally.
Hawai`i added another run in the sixth on a two-out RBI double by
Sarah Robinson. She drove a long fly ball off the centerfield wall that allowed Iwata to score from first to extend UH's lead to 4-0.
Louisiana Tech's Meghan Kreig threw the first 5.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits with 10 walks and seven strike outs. Frandup closed the game, throwing the final 1.1 innings while allowing just one hit.
Louisiana Tech 1, Hawai`i 0
The Rainbow Wahine softball team (30-13, 8-4 WAC) out-hit Louisiana Tech (6-to-4), but were unable to produce any runs and the Lady Techsters (12-30, 3-9 WAC) got a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to win 1-0 in the series finale.
It was a pitchers duel of a game between UH's
Stephanie Ricketts and Louisiana Tech's Janna Frandrup, with both pitchers blanking their opponents through the first five innings of the game.
But in the top of the sixth inning, Louisiana Tech's Kendra Harmon led the inning off by hitting a solo home run over the rightfield fence to break open the scoreless game.
Ricketts (18-10, 5-3 WAC) threw a complete game in the loss, tossing 6.0 innings. She gave up one run while spacing four hits with a walk and five strike outs. Except for the home run, she did not allow a runner to reach second base in the game.
Frandrup (1-2) shut-out UH for just the sixth time this season. She gave up six hits with four strike outs and no walks for Louisiana Tech.
Hawai`i returns for its final homestand of the year, hosting both Boise State (Apr. 22-23) and New Mexico State (Apr. 29-30) in a pair of three-game conference series before ending the regular season at San Jose State.
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