RUSTON, La. — The University of Hawai‘i softball team (30-13, 8-4 WAC) split Saturday’s Western Athletic Conference doubleheader with Louisiana Tech (12-30, 3-9 WAC). The ‘Bows won the first game, 4-0, but fell in the second game, 1-0 at Lady
RUSTON, La. — The University of Hawai‘i softball team (30-13, 8-4 WAC) split Saturday’s Western Athletic Conference doubleheader with Louisiana Tech (12-30, 3-9 WAC). The ‘Bows won the first game, 4-0, but fell in the second game, 1-0 at Lady Techster Softball Complex, states a release from the UH athletic department.
Hawai‘i 4, Louisiana Tech 0
Starting pitcher Kaia Parnaby fired a four-hit shutout while tying her career-high with 12 strikeouts.
Parnaby started the game by getting the first seven outs on strikeouts. She scattered four hits with four walks and faced just 28 batters to raise her record to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in conference.
The Lady Techsters tried to rally in the top of the first. Leadoff batter Kendra Harmon led off with a single up the middle and moved to second on an illegal pitch, then advanced to third on a wild pitch. After a strikeout, Parnaby walked Janna Frandup to put runners at the corners. But the Aussie southpaw settled down to strike out the final two batters, thwarting the scoring threat.
Hawai‘i got on the scoreboard first, posting a run in the top of the second. Jenna Rodriguez led the inning off by drawing a walk. After a pop out and a swinging strikeout, Alex Aguirre worked for a walk to bring up Kelly Majam with runners at first and second. Majam battled at the plate, fouling off several pitches before lacing a single up the middle to drive in Rodriguez from second for the 1-0 lead.
The ‘Bows added two more runs in the top of the third on Rodriguez’s second home run of the series. Jessica Iwata started the inning by drawing a walk. Two outs later, Rodriguez launched a high fly ball that sailed right over the left-center field fence to give UH a 3-0 lead.
Hawai‘i added another run in the sixth on a two-out RBI double by Sarah Robinson, She drove a long fly ball off the center field wall that allowed Iwata to score from first to extend UH’s lead to 4-0.
Louisiana Tech’s Meghan Kreig threw the first 5.2 innings, giving up four runs on six hits with 10 walks and seven strikeouts. Frandup closed the game, throwing the final 1.1 innings while allowing just one hit.
Louisiana Tech 1, Hawai‘i 0
The Rainbow Wahine had six hits to Louisiana Tech’s four, but were unable to produce any runs, while the Lady Techsters got a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to win 1-0 in the series finale.
It was a pitchers’ duel between UH’s Stephanie Ricketts and Louisiana Tech’s Frandup, with both pitchers blanking their opponents through the first five innings of the game.
But in the top of the sixth inning, Louisiana Tech’s Kendra Harmon led the inning off by hitting a solo home run over the right field fence.
Ricketts (18-10, 5-3 WAC) threw a complete game in the loss, tossing 6.0 innings. She gave up one run while spacing four hits with a walk and five strikeouts. Except for the home run, she did not allow a runner to reach second base in the game.
Frandup (1-2) shut out UH for just the sixth time this season. She gave up six hits with four strikeouts and no walks for Louisiana Tech.
Hawai‘i returns for its final homestand of the year, hosting both Boise State (April 22 and 23) and New Mexico State (April 29 and 30) in a pair of three-game conference series before ending the regular season at San Jose State.
