UH stuns Cal Poly, rallies in seventh inning

Through six-plus innings on Friday night, Hawaii struggled to get a read on Cal Poly pitcher Sierra Hyland.

The Rainbow Wahine figured it out just in time to piece together a two-out rally in the bottom of the seventh and opened their final home series of the season with a 3-2 comeback victory at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

After Hyland recorded her 13th strikeout of the night to open the seventh inning, UH stunned the Mustangs with a three-run outburst capped by Heather Morales’ bases-loaded single to score Sarah Muzik with the winning run.

“I already knew we had a tie score, so there was nothing else to lose,” Morales said. “I was just going up there swinging hard. I expected the first one outside and I knew it was going to be inside, so I just had to get my hands out and get a base hit. That’s all I was aiming for.”

The rally gave UH (22-27, 6-10 Big West) a stirring start to its final weekend at home. The Wahine and Mustangs (23-22, 6-10) close the series with a senior day doubleheader today starting at 2 p.m. UH’s senior class of Keiki Carlos, Tayana Mata, Sarah McAndrew, Dori Ann Sugai and Kiani Wong will be honored after the finale.

Hyland was in control deep into the opener and UH’s 13 strikeouts marked a season high. She gave herself a 2-0 lead with run-scoring singles in the first and third innings and held UH to four hits through six innings.

After Hyland got the first out in the seventh, Mata singled into right field and moved to second on a groundout. With UH down to its last out, freshman Jennifer Iseri’s grounder to shortstop was bobbled and she beat the throw to first with a dive to extend the inning.

“Once Jen got on, she got the momentum going even more,” Morales said. “Everybody was feeding off of that and everybody was full of intensity from the front to back of the dugout.”

UH leadoff hitter Muzik then fell behind two strikes before flaring a single into left field to load the bases.

Nicole Lopez, who struck out in her previous three plate appearances, also fell behind in the count 0-2, but dropped a soft liner into left field to score Mata. The throw to the plate sailed to the backstop and Iseri continued around third to score the tying run.

“(Hyland) had me tonight. I struck out three times, but the opportunity was there,” Lopez said.

“She mixed it up for me the whole night. She got me to strike out on a changeup, and that last pitch I hit was offpseed again. But I saw it out of her hand, it was a little outside and I knew I had to hit it.”

After Carlos was intentionally walked to load the bases again, Morales lined another single into left to bring Muzik in with the game-winning run.

The rally gave Brittany Hitchcock a complete-game victory. The sophomore gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked none while improving to 11-14.

“That’s how Brittany’s been pitching, we just haven’t been giving her enough support,” UH coach Bob Coolen said. “So tonight it was good to see it go the other way.”

Until the seventh, Hyland stymied the UH batting order and posted her ninth double-digit strikeout game of the season while raising her season total to a league-leading 183.

BIG WEST SOFTBALL

Friday

Hawaii 3, Cal Poly 2

CSUN at CS Fullerton (4) susp.

Today

CS Fullerton at CSUN (DH), 11 a.m.

UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis (DH), 10 a.m.

UC Riverside at Long Beach State (DH), 10 a.m.

Cal Poly at Hawaii (DH), 2 p.m.

Sunday

CS Fullerton at CSUN, 9 a.m.

UC Santa Barbara at UC Davis, 10 a.m.

UC Riverside at Long Beach State, 10 a.m.

Sierra Hyland and Mckenna Young. Brittany Hitchcock and Rachel Lack, Heather Cameron (7). W–Hitchcock. L–Hyland.

Leading hitters–Cal Poly: Stephanie Heyward, 3-4, 2 runs; Hyland, 2-4, 2 RBIs; Young, 2B;

Hawaii: Sarah Muzik, 2-4; Nicole Lopez, RBI; Heather Morales, 3-4, 2B, GW RBI.

CS Fullerton 13 2 .867 — 39 12