Coming off of consecutive shutout victories, the University of Hawaii softball team ended up on the other end of a dazzling pitching performance to open the Hawaii Pacific Health Rainbow Wahine Classic.
Connecticut freshman Katie Koshes held UH to two hits and struck out a season-high 11 in the Huskies’ 2-0 win on Tuesday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
UConn (8-10) scratched out a run in the top of the first inning and Koshes kept the Rainbow Wahine off balance throughout the evening to send the Huskies to a 2-0 start to the tournament.
“(Koshes has) done a really nice job for us, especially as a freshman,” UConn coach Jen McIntyre said. “Sometimes it’s better when they don’t have any idea and they just get out there and make the play and throw. She’s done a nice job of really spinning the ball and mixing it around.”
The Rainbow Wahine (15-10) had a three-game winning streak snapped and face Harvard today at 6 p.m.
UH closed the Outrigger Spring Fling Tournament with 2-0 and 5-0 wins over Marist on Saturday and Sunday behind the pitching of Brittany Hitchcock and Dana Thomsen.
Thomsen got the start on Tuesday and held the Huskies to one hit though six innings before UConn added an insurance run in the seventh when Carli Cutler doubled and scored on Kiwi McDaniels’ single.
“We had one day off, we came out flatter than a board and didn’t make any adjustments on (Koshes),” UH coach Bob Coolen said. “She kept exploiting looking at third strikes and swinging at her high pitch and not making the adjustment on the outside.”
Koshes entered the day with a 1.53 earned-run average with 39 strikeouts in 32 innings and earned a win over Harvard with 22⁄3 innings of scoreless relief in the tournament’s opening game.
Disguising her offerings behind a frenetic windup, Koshes struck out eight of the first 11 batters she faced against a UH lineup that had a total of 12 strikeouts over the previous five games.
“Her ball just has incredible movement on it and that’s what’s so deceptive,” McIntyre said.
UConn gave Koshes the lead in the first when Kelli Bates scored on Chloe Kerns’ sacrifice fly to center.
UH stranded a runner at third in the fourth inning and put runners on second and third with one out in the sixth. But after a foul popup to first base, UConn right fielder Ally Hernandez made a diving catch on Callee Heen’s shallow flyball to end the threat.
“It’s just they took advantage of the runners they got on and we didn’t,” Coolen said.
At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
UConn (8-10) 100 000 1 — 2 3 1
Hawaii (15-10) 000 000 0 — 0 2 0
Katie Koshes and Chloe Kerns. Dana Thomsen, Kanani Aina Cabrales (7) and Heather Cameron. W—Koeshes. L—Thomsen.
Leading hitters—UConn: Kerns. RBI; Carli Cutler, 2B; Kiwi McDaniel, RBI.
Tuesday
UConn 4, Harvard 3
Today
Marist vs. Purdue, 11 a.m.
UConn vs. Purdue, 1:30 p.m.
UConn vs. Marist, 4 p.m.
Harvard vs. Hawaii, 6 p.m.
