LIHU‘E — No. 9/10 California (20-2) held off the No. 16/20 University of Hawai‘i softball team (22-8), 3-1, Friday during the third day of the Chevron Spring Fling Tournament. UH starter Stephanie Ricketts — who held the Golden Bears to
LIHU‘E — No. 9/10 California (20-2) held off the No. 16/20 University of Hawai‘i softball team (22-8), 3-1, Friday during the third day of the Chevron Spring Fling Tournament.
UH starter Stephanie Ricketts — who held the Golden Bears to just three hits — suffered the loss in a complete game effort.
The Golden Bears jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning, states a game story release from the UH athletic department. Jolene Henderson led the inning off with a hard hit back up the middle. Frani Echavarria followed with a single to left, but a fielding error allowed Henderson and Echavarria to both advance to into scoring position. Victoria Jones then struck out swinging but reached first on a passed ball that allowed Henderson to score from third. Lindsey Ziegenhirt later hit a grounder to second base that allowed Jones to score from third to give Cal the 2-0 lead.
Hawai‘i cut the deficit in half when Kelly Majam led the third inning off with a solo home run over the right-center field fence. It was Majam’s 36th career home run, which moved her past Amanda Tauali‘i for third all-time in the UH career record book.
Cal added one run in the top of the seventh with a two-out rally.
Ricketts (13-6) gave up three runs on three hits with a walk and six strikeouts.
Henderson (18-2) gave up the one home run while scattering five other hits, walking one and striking out nine.
Hawai‘i, Cleveland State, and Iona all ended with identical 1-3 records in pool play. The seeding tie-breaker was least amount of runs against. Iona gave up 22 runs and CSU yielded 19 runs while UH gave up nine. Therefore, Hawai‘i is the No. 3 seed, Cleveland State is No. 4, and Iona is No. 5.
Hawai‘i will face BYU on Sunday at 2 p.m. with the winner advancing to the tournament’s championship game at 4 p.m. against the winner of No. 1 Seed California vs. No. 4 Seed Cleveland State (who defeated Iona 2-1 in Friday night’s first bracket game).
