LIHU‘E — It was a longer day than they may have hoped, but the University of Hawai‘i softball team will not argue with the result as it captured the 2010 Western Athletic Conference championship, the school’s first WAC tournament title,
LIHU‘E — It was a longer day than they may have hoped, but the University of Hawai‘i softball team will not argue with the result as it captured the 2010 Western Athletic Conference championship, the school’s first WAC tournament title, Saturday in Lac Cruces, N.M.
After a 4-3 loss in the day’s opening game, the Rainbow Wahine came back with a 14-3, five-inning victory to secure the league title and the automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.
Hawai‘i (44-13, 19-1 WAC) had won its first two games of the double-elimination conference tournament, forcing Fresno State (39-19, 16-6 WAC) to win twice Saturday.
The ‘Bows made sure that would not be the case after the day’s first loss as they put up six runs in the first inning of Game 2, then added four more in the second for a 10-0 lead.
Jessica Iwata was 3 for 3 in the game with two runs scored. Fellow freshman Kelly Majam was 2 for 4 with a leadoff home run to start the UH explosion.
Alexandra Aguirre was 2 for 3 with a homer, two runs and three RBIs. Amanda Tauali‘i crushed a grand slam in the first inning for her lone hit of the afternoon.
Melissa Gonzalez was 2 for 4 with a home run, three runs and two RBIs and Traci Yoshikawa was 1 for 3 with a solo homer.
Kaia Parnaby got the victory, going five innings and giving up the three earned runs on six hits. All three runs came in the fifth inning as Fresno State tried to rally and avoid the mercy-rule finish, but it was unable to put enough on the board.
The five home runs in the game gave UH 141 on the season, adding to the NCAA record it set Friday night, passing the 134 the University of Arizona hit last season.
Fresno State gave itself a chance, winning the day’s first game to force the all-or-nothing scenario.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning before UH got on the board in the third thanks to a Kanani Pu‘u-Warren RBI single to score Gonzalez.
FSU got the run back in the fourth on a sacrifice fly, increasing the margin back to three runs at 4-1.
The ‘Bows scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to cut Fresno State’s lead to 4-3. Jenna Rodriguez doubled to lead off the inning, which set up Aguirre’s RBI single to left field. Pu‘u-Warren later knocked her in with a ground ball to second base.
UH threatened in the seventh, putting runners on second and third with two outs, but Iwata grounded out to second base to end the game. Iwata, the WAC Player of the Year, struggled in the opener with an 0 for 5 showing at the plate, but responded in the second game.
She made the WAC All-Tournament Team along with Gonzalez and Katie Grimes. Majam was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
The team will be staying in Las Cruces as it awaits the NCAA selection show, which will air today at 4 p.m. HST.
