The Hawaii softball team closed a productive weekend in the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic with a 12-3 win over Cal State Northridge yesterday in Las Vegas.

Freshman catcher Sharla Kliebenstein finished the tournament with a bang, hitting two of UH’s five home runs in a rout abbreviated to six innings by the eight-run mercy rule.

The Rainbow Wahine (9-1) won four of their five games in the early season tournament and next head to UC Riverside for a doubleheader tomorrow.

The ninth-ranked Wahine hit .333 as a team with 16 home runs in five tournament games. Shortstop Jessica Iwata accounted for six homers while hitting .526 (10-for-19) over the weekend.

Kliebenstein closed the weekend with her most productive day of the season to date. She went 3-for-4, driving in four runs and hitting her third and fourth home runs of the season in the win over the Matadors.

After UH fell behind 2-0, Kliebenstein and Jenna Rodriguez tied the game in the bottom of the second inning with back-to-back home runs to ignite an eight-run rally. Kelly Majam highlighted the outburst with her second career grand slam, and Kliebenstein delivered a two-run double in her second plate appearance of the inning.

Leading 8-3, the Wahine put away the game with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Kliebenstein hit a two-run homer to put UH up 10-3. Rodriguez then doubled and first baseman Sarah Robinson closed the game with the first home run of her UH career. Robinson finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

UH right hander Stephanie Ricketts (5-1) earned her second win of the tournament. The junior gave up four hits and struck out six while walking three in six innings. Ricketts started the final three games of the tournament while sophomore Kaia Parnaby rested a sore back.

Ricketts gave up a two-run homer to Cal State Northridge Tracy Allen in the top of the first inning before the Wahine offense batted around in the second inning to catch, then pass the Matadors.