LIHU‘E — Kaia Parnaby fired her first career perfect game as the No. 14/16 University of Hawai‘i softball team (14-4) downed Weber State (1-10), 6-0 at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, Saturday night. Parnaby (5-1) tied a career high with
LIHU‘E — Kaia Parnaby fired her first career perfect game as the No. 14/16 University of Hawai‘i softball team (14-4) downed Weber State (1-10), 6-0 at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, Saturday night. Parnaby (5-1) tied a career high with 12 strikeouts to conclude the opening day of the Bank of Hawai‘i Invitational, states a release from the UH athletic department.
Parnaby threw her sixth complete game and first shut out of 2011. Along with her 12 strikeouts, she forced three ground outs and five fly outs for the win, facing the minimum of 21 hitters.
Hawai‘i’s last perfect game was thrown last year by Stephanie Ricketts in a five-inning affair at Nevada on April 24, 2010.
The ‘Bows posted four runs to start the game. Kelly Majam led off with a walk and moved to second on a ground out to short. Alex Aguirre was then hit by a pitch and Melissa Gonzalez followed with a base hit to load the bases. Sharla Kliebenstein was then hit by a pitch to force home Majam.
Jenna Rodriguez followed with an RBI fielder’s choice in which the shortstop tried unsuccessfully to cut down the runner at second. Sarah Robinson then drove in two runs to give UH the early 4-0 lead on a single to the right-center field gap.
Hawai‘i extended its lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the third. Aguirre led off with a single and stole second to move into scoring position. Kliebenstein then picked up her second RBI of the game with a hard-hit single down the left field line to score the speedy Aguirre from second. Kliebenstein advanced to second on the throw home and moved to third on a ground out to second. Robinson then notched her third RBI of the game with a single to short to score Kliebenstein.
Hawai‘i 6,
South Dakota State 0
In its first game of the day, Hawai‘i scored six runs in the fifth inning to defeat South Dakota State, 6-0. Ricketts fired a three-hit shutout to earn her eighth win of the season.
The ‘Bows were held scoreless until the bottom of the fifth when they batted around and erupted for six runs. Jazmine Zamora and Majam led the inning off with back-to-back walks and Jessica Iwata was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Aguirre then drew another walk to force Zamora across the plate. Gonzalez hit a fielder’s choice to short, scoring Majam from third. Kliebenstein followed with a sharp single through the left side of the infield to drive in Iwata. Rodriguez drew a walk to load the bases again for Robinson, who drove in two runs with an opposite-field single though the right side of the infield. Ricketts then got a single that scored Robinson to give UH it’s six run lead.
That would be more than enough offensive support for Ricketts, who scattered three hits and did not allow a runner to reach third base. She issued just one walk and had 11 strikeouts in her 10th complete game of the season.
The Bank of Hawai‘i Invitational continues today with South Dakota State facing Weber State at 10 a.m. and UH battling St. Bonaventure at 12 p.m. Then the No. 3 seeded team will face the No. 4 seed at 2 p.m.
The championship game will be at 4 p.m. with the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds facing off.
Game stories provided by University of Hawai‘i athletic department.
