Tucson, Ariz. » Hawaii softball coach Bob Coolen’s message to his team now is simple.

"You lose, you go home," Coolen said Friday, shortly after the Rainbow Wahine fell 7-3 to Notre Dame in the opener of the NCAA softball tournament’s Tucson Regional.

After Coolen’s short-but-sweet pep talk, UH (44-8) will take on North Dakota State (37-21) at 2:30 p.m. today in the double-elimination tournament. The winner plays again at 5 for the right to advance to Sunday.

"My words are really simple," the coach said. "I don’t try to beat around the bush. I have to give them the reality check that if we lose another game, we’re out of here and our season is over."

It’s as sobering a message as the one Notre Dame’s Katey Haus delivered in the top of the ninth inning Friday, when the third baseman drilled a three-run homer to left field that had nearly the same effect as a walk-off bomb.

The Wahine went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, sending the Fighting Irish (39-14) to a matchup today against Arizona, which beat the Bison 11-0 in Friday’s late game.

Haus connected on Stephanie Ricketts’ last pitch of the game after the UH senior had given up three consecutive singles with one out in the inning. Emilee Koerner’s hit to left center brought home Amy Buntin from third, putting the Irish up 4-3, and Haus followed with a deep shot that plated Dani Miller and Koerner.

"If it was a one-run ballgame going into the last inning that might have changed things a little bit, but we seemed really deflated after that home run, all the way around" Coolen said.

Kaia Parnaby got the last two outs in relief of Ricketts, who allowed seven earned runs on 14 hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 81⁄3 innings. After a dominant regular season in which she was named Western Athletic Conference pitcher of the year for the third time, Ricketts has surrendered 22 hits and 13 earned runs in her past two outings.

"Stephanie was a little flat, she gave up a lot of hits and it just didn’t work today," Coolen said.

Three pitches into the game, Alexa Maldonado went deep to right center, giving Notre Dame a 1-0 lead that would last until the bottom of the third, when Kelly Majam led off with a homer to right that tagged the top of the scoreboard.

Leisha Li‘ili‘i hit one over the left-field wall to lead off the fourth, giving UH its only lead at 2-1. After Miller’s two-run double put Notre Dame back on top at 3-2, Majam led off the bottom of the fifth with another home run, this time to left center.

The two solo shots put Majam’s season total at 15 home runs, and she finished the game 4-for-5. Her sister Mari went 2-for-4 with an RBI as Northwestern upset Texas 2-0 in the Austin Regional.

"I was seeing the ball well, which was nice," Kelly Majam said. "I thank the Lord that I was able to do well today, but we didn’t get the win, so I guess it doesn’t matter."

Majam was the only UH batter with multiple hits, as Notre Dame’s Laura Winter gave up seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts in nine innings.

Hawaii needs four wins before Monday to advance to the Super Regional in Oklahoma City, Okla.

"It’s going to be unbelievable because now we have to go with a rotation," Coolen said, noting that Parnaby would get the start against North Dakota State after Ricketts worked overtime on Friday. "Stephanie may have thrown her last pitch, the home run ball, and that’s a hard memory to live down."