HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i softball team (16-9, 0-0 Big West) fell to Iowa State in nine innings, 5-4 on the final day of the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Wahine Classic. Hawai'i was trailing by three until
Mya'Liah Bethea blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score at 4-4 on Sunday at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. Hawai'i went 3-2 in their final pre-season tournament.
In the bottom of the first,
Maya Nakamura blasted a solo home run to centerfield to give UH a 1-0 lead. It marked her third homer of the season and 13
th of the junior's career.
Iowa State leap-frogged into the lead on a two-run homer by Carli Spelhaug in the third. The Cyclones added another run in the fourth on an RBI-double by Mikayla Ramos to drive in Kasey Simpson from second.
ISU extended their lead to 4-1 after Milaysia Ochoa hit a solo home run over the left-centerfield fence for a 4-1 lead in the fifth.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth,
Mya'Liah Bethea tied the game by launching a three-run home run to right-centerfield to score both Rachel Sabourin and Nakamura. For Bethea it was her team-leading eighth home run of the season and 10
th of her career.
With the international tiebreaker rules in place in the tournament, the last batter of the previous inning starts the inning on second base. After both teams were unable to score in the eighth, Iowa State broke through in the ninth when Ramos hit an RBI single up the middle to score Alesia Ranches what proved to be the winning run.
In the bottom of the ninth, UH had runners at the corners with two outs. But the game ended on a failed double-steal attempt.
Hawai'i's
Brianna Lopez got the start, but did not figure in the decision. She threw the first 3-2/3 innings allowing three runs on five hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Key-Annah Campbell-Pua threw the final 5-1/3 innings and suffered the loss, dropping her record to 6-3. She allowed two runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Iowa State's Saya Swain tossed the first five-plus innings and was responsible for three runs on two hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts. Ellie Spelhaug gave up one run on one hit with a walk and a strikeout in two innings. Reliever Jaiden Ralston picked up the win, thwoing the final two innings, giving up just one hit with two strikeouts.
Hawai'i will play Niagara one last time in a single game on Tuesday, March 14, 2023 at 2:00 P.M. HT before opening the Big West season. UH's three-game series against UC Santa Barbara begins on Friday, March 17 at 6:00 p.m. followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, March 18 at 2:00 P.M. HT.
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