HONOLULU—The University of Hawai'i softball team (5-14) dropped both ends of their doubleheader on the second day of the OUTRIGGER Rainbow Wahine Classic. UConn pulled away to win, 13-7 and then New Mexico held off the 'Bows, 5-4 on Friday at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
UConn 13, Hawai'i 7
UConn capitalized on a double error (fielding and throwing) on one play that allowed Jana Sanden to score for an early 1-0 lead. The Huskies scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Taylor Zatyk that drove in Kaitlyn Kibling from third to go up 2-0 in the second inning.
Hawai'i loaded the bases with one out for
Chloe Borges who ripped a single to left that drove in both
Maya Nakamura and pinch-runner
Larissa Goshi leaving two runners in scoring position. The Rainbow Wahine got another run on a sacrifice fly to left by
Cierra Yamamoto that drove in pinch-runner
Kayla Tierney to overtake the Huskies 3-2.
UConn tied the game on a Sanden solo home run in the third and then overtook the 'Bows with a four run fourth. A two RBI singles and an RBI double followed by a solo shot by Kibling that extended the Huskies' lead to 8-3
In the fifth, UH trimmed their deficit to trail by three.
Haley Johnson came up with an out and the bases loaded and no outs. She reached first safely on a fielder's choice to second that allowed Xiao Gin to score. Later with two outs,
Dallas Millwood laced a single to right that drove in
Ka'ena Keliinoi.
UConn then pulled away rallying for five runs in the sixth—three coming off a Hope Jenkins bomb to centerfield that gave UConn a 13-5 lead from which UH could not recover from.
Hawai'i was able to scratch a run across in the bottom of the sixth to stave off a run rule defeat. Gin led off the frame with a single to left and later scored on a fielder's choice groundout to second by
Izabella Martinez.
In the seventh, Millwood blasted her first home run of the season to left-centerfield. Her eighth career home run made the final score, 13-7.
Hawai'i starter
Addison Kostrencich fell to 3-5 on the season. She allowed seven runs on seven hits with a strikeout. Middle reliever Millie Fidge came into the game with one out in the fourth and gave up three runs on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts over the next inning and two-thirds.
McKenna Kostyszyn tossed the final inning and two-thirds giving up three runs on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Hallie Siems earned the win to improve to 5-3. She gave up five runs on six hits with a walk and seven strike outs in five innings of work. Sydnee Koos threw the final two innings, allowing two runs on three hits with a walk and a pair of strike outs.
New Mexico 5, Hawai'i 3
New Mexico jumped out to an early 2-0 lead via a two-run home run by Katherine Brunner. The Lobos extended their lead to 4-0 on a two-RBI single by Rachael Hathoot.
In the third, Hawai'i would rally on two outs to score one run.
Izabella Martinez would start things with a two-out single to center followed by walks to both
Haley Johnson and
Maya Nakamura. Millwood then drove a grounder to short who flipped to second to tried unsuccessfully to erase
Maya Nakamura allowing Martinez to score from third.
Mya'Liah Bethea led off the fourth inning with a solo shot over the leftfield fence for her fourth homer of the season. She tied
Chloe Borges and two others for the lead in the Big West. After four complete innings, the Lobos lead UH, 4-2.
UNM added an insurance run in the fifth on an RBI single by Chavez to extend lead to 5-2.
Hawai'i got a run back in the fifth on Millwood's second long ball of the day. She cranked the solo homer over the centerfield fence to bring UH within two runs at 5-3.
In the seventh, the Rainbow Wahine tried to rally back.
Maya Nakamura ripped an opposite-field triple into the rightfield corner and raced around the bases. Millwood was plunked to put runners at the corner.
Chloe Borges then hit a grounder to third who threw to second to get pinch-runner
Larissa Goshi out at second which allowed Nakamura to score. But the Lobos got the final out on a foul pop out to second.
UH starter Key-Annahh Campbell-Pua suffered the loss dropping her record to 1-5. She allowed four runs on four hits with two walks in four innings. Borges, the starting centerfielder, re-entered the game to throw the final three innings. She gave up one run on one hit with a walk and two strikeouts.
New Mexico reliever McKenna Guest earned the win to improve to 5-10. She gave up two runs on two hits with two walks and two strikeouts in four innings. Starter Emily Brouse threw the first three innings, giving up a run on one hit with five walks and two strikeouts. Brooke Umali came in relief, but was unable to record an out but did yield a run on two hits.
The OUTRIGGER Rainbow Wahine Classic continues with two games on Saturday. Hawai'i will face Cleveland State at 3:30 p.m. HT.
