Last season’s frustration against BYU crossed over into the new season on Thursday for the University of Hawaii softball team.
The Rainbow Wahine lost their final two meetings with the Cougars as members of the Western Athletic Conference last season, and BYU pulled out a 4-2 win in their reunion in the Easton Desert Classic in Las Vegas.
Campbell graduate Katie Manuma drove in two runs for BYU and the Cougars (3-3) took advantage of three UH errors while handing the No. 20/23 Rainbow Wahine (5-2) their second straight loss.
"They made the plays," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "They didn’t have any errors, we did and they got the timely hits after the errors. So it just wasn’t a sharp game at all. … We have San Jose State and UCLA (today), we’ll move on."
UH senior Kaia Parnaby gave up seven hits, struck out seven and walked none and took the loss. Only two of the runs off her were earned.
After BYU took the lead on Manuma’s RBI groundout in the top of the first inning, UH jumped ahead on Jessica Iwata’s two-run single in the third.
The Cougars reclaimed the lead in the fourth when Manuma reached on an error and later scored the tying run on Carly Duckworth’s RBI single. BYU then took the lead on Madisen Robb’s sacrifice fly.
Manuma added an RBI single in the fifth to give BYU a two-run cushion. BYU pitcher Tori Almond benefitted from double plays in the sixth and seventh innings in closing out the win.
At Eller Media Stadium
| BYU (3-3) |
100 |
210 |
0 |
— |
4 |
7 |
0 |
| Hawaii (5-2) |
002 |
000 |
0 |
— |
2 |
5 |
3 |
Tori Almond and Megan Arnold. Kaia Parnaby and Kayla Wartner. W—Almond. L—Parnaby.
Leading hitters—BYU: Lacey Millett, 3-4, 2 runs; Katie Manuma, 2 RBIs; Carly Duckworth, RBI; Madisen Robb, RBI. Hawaii: Jessica Iwata, 2 RBIs; Keiki Carlos, 2-2.
