After escaping a tight situation in the sixth inning, Key-annah Campbell-Pua wasn’t about to let a cramp in her arm keep her from finishing in the seventh.
With the University of Hawaii softball team protecting a four-run lead, the Rainbow Wahine freshman snagged a grounder to start an inning-ending double play to thwart a Long Beach State threat in the sixth. The right-hander then shook off the cramp in her forearm to close out UH’s 7-3 win over the Beach in Friday’s opener of their Big West series at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“It was very helpful with (catcher Izabella Martinez) because we were both on the same page,” Campbell-Pua said. “We were like, ‘I’m finishing this game, we have two more outs, I can can finish cramping later.’”
After stretching and shaking out her hand, Campbell-Pua fired her second strikeout of the game and induced a pop-up to cap her ninth complete-game of the season and help UH (29-16, 12-7 Big West) keep pace in the conference race.
The Rainbow Wahine enter today’s 2 p.m. doubleheader alone in third place after closing to within a game of second-place Long Beach State (23-21, 13-6). They also remained in sight of conference leader Cal State Fullerton (29-16, 16-4), which swept a doubleheader with Cal Poly on Friday.
On the eve of “Youth Day” at RWSS, Campbell-Pua made her debut in UH’s rivalry with Long Beach State with her first Friday start of the Big West season. The freshman had pitched the middle game of the each of UH’s first six conference series, but with sophomore Brianna Lopez under the weather during the week of practice UH coach Bob Coolen gave Campbell-Pua the assignment for the series opener.
After throwing just 21⁄3 innings in a loss at CSU Bakersfield a week ago, Campbell-Pua retired 10 of the first 11 LBSU batters she faced before two infield singles set up Mikayla Ceballos’ go-ahead three-run homer in the fourth.
UH’s Mya’liah Bethea answered with a tying home run to lead off the bottom of the inning to spark a five-run outburst and Campbell-Pua (11-5) held off the Beach the rest of the way.
“She was fresh, she had a lot of energy in her arm and she wanted to prove that last week was just an aberration,” Coolen said.
Long Beach State starter Shannon Haddad (10-9) had given up just eight home runs over 113 innings entering Friday’s game, but watched drives off the bats of UH’s Cira Bartolotti in the second and Maya Nakamura in the third sail into the protective netting beyond the RWSS fence.
LBSU jumped ahead on Ceballos’ second homer of the season only to see UH send nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the fourth. After Bethea hit her conference-leading 12th homer of the sesaon, UH loaded the bases on two walks and an error on Cierra Yamamoto’s bunt and reclaimed the lead when Xiao Gin was hit by a pitch.
Nakamura, who went 3-for-3, lined and RBI single into right field and Haley Johnson’s liner into left center rolled to the fence to drive in Gin and Ka’ena Keliinoi and give UH the 7-3 lead.
“I think after (LBSU’s) three-run home run … most of us on the field weren’t too worried about it,” Nakamura said. “Because we were able to get ahead in the beginning of the game and we had that confidence to know we could answer back.”
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At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
Long Beach State (23-21, 13-6) 000 300 0 — 3 6 1
Hawaii (29-16, 12-7) 011 500 x — 7 7 1
Shannon Haddad, Eryka Gonzalez (4) and Teah Thies. Key-annah Campbell-Pua and Izabella Martinez. W—Campbell-Pua. L—Haddad.
Leading hitters—LBSU: Makayla Medellin, 2-3; Mikayla Ceballos, HR, 3 RBI. Hawaii: Xiao Gin, RBI; Maya Nakamura, 3-3, HR, 2 RBIs; Haley Johnson, 2B, 2 RBI; Mya’Liah Bethea, HR; Cira Bartolotti, HR.
