Keiki Carlos was quick to acknowledge she had quite a bit of help while earning a signature win in just her second collegiate start.

But the freshman certainly did her part in the University of Hawaii softball team’s victory over No. 16 Washington on Friday to cap the second day of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic.

Carlos contained an explosive Huskies offense through four-plus innings and hit a tiebreaking home run in No. 23/25 UH’s 5-2 win before a near-capacity crowd at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

UH edged St. Mary’s 1-0 in its first game on Friday and will be the top seed in Saturday’s bracket portion of the tournament.

The Wahine (4-0) will face the winner of a matchup between Ole Miss (1-3) and St. Mary’s (0-4) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. UAB (3-1) and Washington (2-2) meet at 3 p.m. with the championship game scheduled for 5.

Carlos benefitted from a pivotal double play early in the first inning against Washington and her teammates produced a tying rally after she gave up a two-run homer in the third inning.

She gave the Rainbow Wahine the lead for good by delivering the team’s first home run of the season in the fourth inning and senior Kaia Parnaby handcuffed the Huskies over the final three innings to earn her second save of the season.

"It definitely gives a me a lot of confidence," Carlos said. "I couldn’t have done it without my teammates though.

"When I wasn’t hitting so well they were telling me just to keep my head up. So without the encouragement I don’t think I could have done it."

Parnaby struck out nine and earned a complete-game win over St. Mary’s to start the afternoon. With the senior going the distance in the opener, UH head coach Bob Coolen elected to give Carlos the start against Washington.

"I had no idea," Carlos said. "When Kaia was pitching the whole game against Saint Mary’s I had a little hint that I would (start). But when I got it, it was definitely surprising but I knew I had to step it up."

Washington threatened to take control early by loading the bases with one out in the top of the first.

Kylee Lahners then hit a grounder to UH third baseman Alyssa Villalpando, who fired to catcher Kayla Wartner at the plate. Wartner then threw Lahners out at first to complete the inning-ending double play.

Carlos escaped again in the second when center fielder Kelly Majam made a catch against the fence to end the inning. But there was no defending against Kaitlin Inglesby’s two-run homer to left center in the third.

The Wahine responded in the bottom of the inning on Jessica Iwata’s two-out single to right field to score Brynne Buchanan and Wartner with the tying runs.

Carlos gave herself a lead to work with by leading off the bottom of the fourth with a blast to left field.

"I was nothing but smiles," Carlos said. "It was crazy."

Carlos gave up six hits and walked six through four-plus innings and gave the ball to Parnaby with runners on first and second with no outs in the fifth.

Parnaby got Missy Taukeiaho to hit a soft liner to second baseman Kaile Nakao who flipped the ball to Iwata covering second for a double play. Parnaby struck out the next batter to end the threat.

The Wahine added to their lead when Sharla Kliebenstein grounded a single into left with the bases loaded in the fifth. Majam scored from third and pinch-runner Jazmine Zamora came in when the relay throw to the plate sailed to the backstop to give UH a 5-2 lead.

"We’ve been trying to put a lot of pressure on," Coolen said. "I told my players we’re going to run, we’re going to put pressure on teams, we’re just going to do things a little bit more aggressively.

"We have a lot of different people contributing, we’ve got a lot of good baserunning going on and we’re going to keep going with that mantra right now and force the issue."

Parnaby allowed just one baserunner over the final three innings and picked up her second save after earning a complete-game win against St. Mary’s.

Parnaby struck out nine against the Gaels and protected the game’s lone run to improve to 2-0.

UH manufactured the run in the third inning when Wartner reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced to third on Leisha Li’ili’i’s looping single to right and scored on a wild pitch to Iwata.

Parnaby worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth with an assist from right fielder Brynne Buchanan. It appeared St. Mary’s would at least tie the game when Sarah Lira drilled a sharp grounder into right field. But Buchanan charged the ball and threw Lira out at first to end the inning.

After UH left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, St. Mary’s opened the seventh with a leadoff single by Alexis Konstantinopoulos. Parnaby struck out the next two hitters and got Erica Musgrave to pop out to third to end the game.