LIHU‘E — The long and improbable road to the Women’s College World Series came to its conclusion for the University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine softball squad, which saw its tremendous season end at the hands of the University of Arizona
LIHU‘E — The long and improbable road to the Women’s College World Series came to its conclusion for the University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine softball squad, which saw its tremendous season end at the hands of the University of Arizona in a 5-1 loss, Saturday night in Oklahoma City.
Hawai‘i’s flair for the dramatic and penchant for the longball made it an unlikely Cinderella story as one of the final eight teams alive in Division I, but the Arizona Wildcats and pitcher Kenzie Fowler closed the book on UH, allowing just two Wahine hits in Saturday’s ballgame.
The ‘Bows were unable to figure out Fowler and could not put the ball in play with much consistency, striking out 13 times as a team.
Traci Yoshikawa had the best swing of the day, launching a solo home run deep into the left-field stands to tie the game at 1-1 in the third inning, but Arizona came right back with two runs in the bottom half and never gave UH another opportunity.
Alexandra Aguirre had the only other hit for the ‘Bows, a single in the second inning, as Fowler held Hawai‘i hitless for the final 4.2 innings and struck out nine of the final 10 hitters she retired.
The Yoshikawa blast was the final in a record-setting season for the Wahine, as they own the NCAA single-season team record with 158. They broke the previous record of 134, set by Arizona just last season, on May 14 and have been adding to it ever since.
The banner season for UH was one which saw it set numerous school records including most runs scored (488) and most hits (578).
Hawai‘i (50-16) was without starting shortstop Jessica Iwata for the middle innings after the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year injured her leg in the field as she made the final out in the bottom of the second inning. Iwata twisted awkwardly firing a throw to first base and went to the ground with apparent calf muscle pain. Yoshikawa, the starting second baseman, was moved over to shortstop and Dana Pagaduan came in to play second base.
Iwata returned to the game in the bottom of the fourth on a double-switch by head coach Bob Coolen, who took out starting pitcher Stephanie Ricketts and brought in the left-handed Kaia Parnaby.
Ricketts had difficulty keeping the Wildcats off the basepaths as Arizona opened the game by bunting and chopping its way aboard. Ricketts (30-10) was lifted after 3.2 innings in which she gave up the five Wildcat runs, though just two were earned, on seven hits. She struck out two and walked one.
Parnaby had far more success, going the final 2.1 innings without surrendering a run or a hit, striking out five and walking one.
Fowler, Arizona’s freshman ace, went 7.0 innings and gave up the one run on two hits, struck out 13 and walked four.
Brittany Lastrapes was 3 for 4 with two runs for Arizona. K’Lee Arredondo went 2 for 3 with an RBI and Karissa Buchanan was 2 for 3 with two runs scored. Stacie Chambers had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Kanani Pu‘u-Warren made a spectacular catch in right field, robbing Lini Koria of an extra-base hit by lunging to her right for a line drive and protecting the ball as she hit the turf.
Kelly Majam, the nation’s top home run hitter (30) and WAC Freshman of the Year was again avoided by opposing pitching as she finished the day 0 for 1 with two walks.
Majam was held hitless by UCLA in Friday’s 5-2 loss, as teams continued to work her away in the zone, trying to avoid her inside power.
With 86 hits, Louisville Slugger/NFCA 1st Team All-American Melissa Gonzalez fell two hits shy of UH’s single-season record of 88, set by Cathy Turner in 1995. The junior entered the CWS leading UH with a .408 batting average, but went hitless in three games.
Gonzalez had the second-highest single-season RBI total (60) in school-history, tied with Majam.
Just four teams remain in the hunt, as each of today’s matchups will be SEC vs. Pac-10 showdowns with UCLA (47-11) taking on Georgia (50-12) and Tennessee (49-13) battling Arizona (50-12).
UCLA and Tennessee are each unbeaten so far, meaning Georgia and Arizona will need to win twice today to advance to the best-of-three championship series.
