After being shut down through five innings Monday night, the University of Hawaii softball team’s first hit proved to be just enough to carry the Rainbow Wahine to a 1-0 win over UMKC to close a perfect season-opening homestand.

Freshman catcher Kayla Wartner’s home run to center field to lead off the bottom of the sixth provided the game’s lone score and senior pitcher Stephanie Ricketts completed a three-hit shutout in the seventh to earn her fourth win of the season at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

“It helps me with my confidence a lot,” Wartner said. “I was kind of struggling and now that that happened I’m feeling in a groove.”

Wartner hit .438 during the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic over the weekend while driving in six runs, and her first collegiate home run was the decisive blow on Monday after UH (6-0) was handcuffed by UMKC’s Deanna Friese for five innings.

“Coming out of the day off (Sunday) after having such a big weekend, I knew it was going to be a pitchers’ duel,” UH head coach Bob Coolen said. “It was something that was bound to happen with two really good pitchers.”

Ricketts, who was named the Western Athletic Conference pitcher of the week Monday morning, finished with seven strikeouts against two walks and escaped a jam in the seventh after UMKC put two runners on with one out.

After two of UMKC’s first three hitters of the seventh singled, Ricketts struck out the next hitter and Marlee Maples hit a bouncer up the middle that ricocheted off of Ricketts’ glove. Shortstop Jessica Iwata fielded the ball and fired to first and Maples was called out to end the game.

“There’s always a chance whenever the ball goes to Jessica because she has a cannon,” Ricketts said.

UMKC, the preseason favorite to win the Summit League, gave UH two of its toughest battles over the six-game homestand.

Friese, who set school records for wins (28) and strikeouts (310) last year, shut out the Wahine through five innings in a 5-1 loss to UH on Friday and was again in control early in the rematch. She walked three and hit a batter, but stuck out nine and induced three infield popups to keep UH off the scoreboard entering the sixth.

Wartner began her at-bat in the sixth by falling behind two strikes, took a ball, then launched the next pitch out to center.

“I knew she was coming at me with riseballs pretty much the whole game,” Wartner said, “so I was looking up and thinking get my hands through and just put something in play and it happened to go over the fence.”

The Wahine depart on their first road trip of the season today to play in the UNLV/Louisville Slugger Desert Classic in Las Vegas. UH will play six games over four days, starting with Memphis on Thursday.

“Hopefully (the homestand) gives us a lot of confidence and we’ll keep rolling with it,” Ricketts said. “We know how to win and now we know how to win close games. We’re going to take this and use it and we’ll learn more lessons on the road.”