Hawai‘i wins in WAC opener

HONOLULU—The No. 17 University of Hawai`i softball team (25-2, 1-0 WAC) opened the Western Athletic Conference Season with a 4-1 win over San Jose State (16-17, 0-1 WAC) Friday night at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Friday night.

 The Rainbow Wahine scored first, posting one run in the bottom of the first inning. The first two batters—Kelly Majam and Kayla Wartner—both drew walks to start the inning. After a strike out, Jessica Iwata hit into a fielder’s choice at second in which Wartner was tagged out in the basepath allowing Iwata to be safe at first. With runners at the corners, the ‘Bows executed a double steal to perfection with the throw going back to the pitcher but she got caught off guard when Majam broke for home and did not make a throw to the plate.

 The Rainbow Wahine added three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Sarah Robinson led the inning off with a walk and pinch runner Jazmine Zamora then moved to second on a single through the leftside of the infield by Iwata. After a swinging strike out, Alex Aguirre was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Sharla Kliebenstein then drew a walk to force Zamora home. Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu followed with a ground ball to third, but on the play, Iwata scored easily from third and Aguirre came racing around third from second and scored on the throw to first.

 The Spartans got one run back in the top of the sixth inning. Cheryl Freitas had a one-out single to right-centerfield. A passed ball moved her to second and a ground out to second pushed her to third. Britney Helm then drove Freitas in on a high-hopping infield single that bounced over Ricketts to Iwata for the infield hit that cut the score to 4-1.

 Hawai`i is now 68-26 all-time against the Spartans and UH has won its last eight games against SJSU.

 Hawai`i concludes the three-game conference series with a doubleheader tomorrow against San Jose State starting at 2:00 p.m.