LIHU‘E — The Rainbow Wahine swept their Friday night doubleheader with a pair of very different victories. Hawai‘i improved to 3-0 on the season with wins over UC Davis and Texas State in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic
LIHU‘E — The Rainbow Wahine swept their Friday night doubleheader with a pair of very different victories.
Hawai‘i improved to 3-0 on the season with wins over UC Davis and Texas State in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic in Honolulu.
It started things off with a 9-1 beating of UC Davis, the game lasting six innings as UH pounded out nine hits and pitcher Kaia Parnaby went six innings without surrendering an earned run.
A five-run third put the Wahine ahead 6-0, and the they added three in the bottom of the eighth to force the stoppage with the eight-run mercy rule in effect.
Jessica Iwata was 1 for 3 with two runs, an RBI and two walks for UH.
Catcher Sharla Kliebenstein was 1 for 3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Center fielder Kelly Majam drove in a run and walked twice, also going 1 for 3 at the dish.
Jenna Rodriguez was the only Wahine to have a multi-hit game, going 2 for 3 with an RBI and a walk.
Right fielder Jasey Jensen was 1 for 4 with an RBI triple, also scoring a run.
Parnaby struck out seven in her six complete innings, giving up five hits and one walk, the one run unearned.
Alex Holmes took the loss for UC Davis, throwing 2.2 innings and giving up four earned runs on seven hits and two walks. She struck out four.
Kasie Cochran pitched the final 3.0 innings, giving up two hits and walking five. All three runs she let in were unearned.
Hawai‘i then followed that up with a pitcher’s duel in every sense of the term, scoring a 1-0 win on second baseman Kaile Nakao’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning to top Texas State.
With the game scoreless after seven innings, each team would be able to start the following innings with a runner on second base. Jasey Jensen was placed on second to begin the bottom of the eighth.
Jazmine Zamora then reached on an error that moved Jensen to third, putting two on with no outs.
After Zamora stole second base, Nakao lifted a fly ball to left field, which was deep enough to bring home Jensen for the game-winner, tagging up after the catch.
Pitcher Stephanie Ricketts was the true star of the evening, throwing a one-hitter through eight shutout innings and striking out 12.
UH managed just two hits in the game as Rodriguez and Majam each got on earlier in the night, but to no avail.
Texas State pitcher Chandler Hall went the full 7.2 innings, giving up two hits and one walk while striking out seven Wahine. The one final run was unearned.
The four teams in the Classic will now play a tournament today, as the top-seeded UH (3-0) will take on No. 4 seed Southern Utah (0-3) in a 12 p.m. game.
No. 2 Texas State (2-1) will face No. 3 UC Davis (1-2) at 10 a.m.
The two losers will play a consolation game at 2 p.m.
The winners will then face off for the tournament title in the championship game at 4 p.m.
Radio coverage will be available for all games on ESPN 1420 AM.
