Hawaii seniors Keiki Carlos and Tayana Mata stayed hot at the plate to power the Rainbow Wahine softball team to a 3-2 series-clinching win over UC Riverside in the first game of Saturday’s Big West doubleheader in Riverside, Calif.
With a chance to get back to .500 overall, UH’s bats cooled considerably in the finale and the host Highlanders salvaged a split with a 2-0 victory to close the weekend.
Mata, who drove in the tying and go-ahead runs in UH’s 5-3 win in the series opener on Friday, came through with an RBI single in the top of the third inning of Saturday’s opener and gave the Wahine a 2-1 lead in the fifth with a double to score Carlos.
After UCR tied the game on Chelsey Holley’s single in the sixth, Carlos launched her second home run of the season in the top of the seventh to send UH (20-22, 4-5 Big West) to its first series win of the Big West schedule.
“That was a bomb, let me tell you,” UH coach Bob Coolen said in a phone interview. “She got all of it.
“Tayana Mata had a great weekend and Keiki was phenomenal. She just really hit the ball and she was our mainstay.”
UH right-hander Kanani Aina Cabrales posted a season-high nine strikeouts, walked none and gave up seven hits while improving to 8-8.
UC Riverside (28-14-1, 4-5) averted a sweep by winning the series finale behind freshman Anessa Cepeda’s complete-game effort. Cepeda held UH to four singles, struck out two and overcame four walks in just her second appearance of the season and picked up her first win.
UCR bunched three singles with two out in the bottom of the third and scored on RBI singles by Jenna Curtan and Natalie Sanchez off of UH’s Brittany Hitchcock, who gave up six hits, struck out five and walked none in the loss.
“Brittany pitched well enough to win, but we didn’t play well enough to win,” Coolen said. “We were satisfied with two wins and just the passion wasn’t there to sweep the series.”
UH returns to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium next weekend to face Big West leader Cal State Fullerton (34-10, 9-0) in a three-game series starting Friday.
| At Riverside, Calif. |
| Hawaii (20-21, 4-4) |
001 |
010 |
1 |
— |
3 |
8 |
0 |
| UC Riverside (27-14-1, 3-5) |
|
000 |
101 |
0 |
— |
2 |
7 |
2 |
Kanani Aina Cabrales and Heather Cameron. Tayler Misfeldt and Chelsey Holley. W–Aina Cabrales. L–Misfeldt.
Leading hitters–Hawaii: Nicole Lopez 3-4; Keiki Carlos, HR; Tayana Mata, 2-4, 2B, 2 RBIs. UC Riverside: Jenna Curtan, 2-3; Holley, RBI.
| Hawaii (20-22, 4-5) |
000 |
000 |
0 |
— |
0 |
4 |
1 |
| UC Riverside (28-14-1, 4-5) |
002 |
000 |
x |
— |
2 |
6 |
2 |
Brittany Hitchcock and Heather Cameron. Anessa Cepeda and Chelsey Holley. W–Cepeda. L–Hitchcock.
Leading hitters–UC Riverside: Jenna Curtan, RBI; Sanchez, 2-3; Holley, RBI.
| BIG WEST SOFTBALL |
|
Conference |
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
| CS Fullerton |
9 |
0 |
1.000 |
— |
34 |
10 |
| Long Beach St. |
4 |
4 |
.500 |
4 1/2 |
24 |
16 |
| CSUN |
4 |
4 |
.500 |
4 1/2 |
24 |
19 |
| Santa Barbara |
4 |
4 |
.500 |
4 1/2 |
21 |
21 |
| UC Riverside |
4 |
5 |
.444 |
5 |
28 |
14 |
| Hawaii |
4 |
5 |
.444 |
5 |
20 |
22 |
| UC Davis |
3 |
6 |
.333 |
6 |
14 |
22 |
| Cal Poly |
2 |
6 |
.250 |
6 1/2 |
18 |
17 |
Friday
Hawaii 5, UC Riverside 3, 8 innings
Cal State Fullerton 6, UC Davis 1
Saturday
Hawaii 3, UC Riverside 2
UC Riverside 2, Hawaii 0
Cal State Fullerton 5, UC Davis 1
Cal State Fullerton 8, UC Davis 2
Cal Poly 1, Long Beach State 0
Cal Poly 4, Long Beach State 1
CSUN 6, UC Santa Barbara 0
UC Santa Barbara 6, CSUN 1
Today
UC Santa Barbara at CSUN, 10 a.m.
Cal Poly at Long Beach State, 10 a.m.
