Homers by Carlos, Lack spur Wahine

A multi-faceted Hawaii offense backed up Kanani Aina Cabrales’ complete-game performance and the Rainbow Wahine softball team opened its Big West series at Cal State Fullerton with a 5-1 win on Friday at Anderson Family Field in Fullerton, Calif.

Two home runs highlighted a UH attack that also managed to produce with the short game in support of Aina Cabrales, who held the Titans to five hits, struck out three and walked one.

Keiki Carlos and Rachel Lack hit solo homers and drove in two runs each to lead the Rainbow Wahine (22-15, 3-1 Big West) to their third straight win.

Carlos’ lead-off homer in the top of the third inning was UH’s first in Big West play. Lack continued her strong start to the Big West season by going 2-for-3 and hitting her fourth homer in the sixth inning.

"I think we surprised them with our power with Keiki and Rachel, and we manufactured runs," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "We bunted people over and we put the ball in play. That’s all I was asking for."

The series concludes with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 9 a.m. The games will be shown on ESPN3.

The Wahine enter Saturday’s play alone in second place in the Big West behind CSUN (5-0), and have yet to surrender an earned run in conference play.

Cal State Fullerton’s lone run on Friday was unearned and Aina Cabrales (11-10) extended UH’s streak of innings without allowing an earned run to 28.

"She did a nice job," Coolen said. "She was able to get a lot of one-pitch outs, she didn’t get really deep in the count with many of their hitters and we were in the right places at the right time."

Coolen said the Wahine entered the game with a relaxed demeanor and Carlos, UH’s leadoff hitter, put the pressure on the Titans by driving in UH’s first two runs. She opened the scoring with her fifth homer of the season and drove in Lindsey Willmon with a bases-loaded infield single in the fourth. 

Cal State Fullerton (24-14, 2-2) broke through in the bottom of the inning. Courtney Rodriguez reached on an error and advanced on a bunt. After Eliza Crawford singled, pinch hitter Lexi Gonzalez delivered a sacrifice fly to right to cut UH’s lead to 2-1.

But the Wahine got the run back in the sixth when Lack, who is 5-for-9 in Big West play, led off the inning with her fourth home run of the season. 

The Wahine gave Aina Cabrales more breathing room in the seventh when Sarina Jaramillo delivered a sacrifice fly to score pinch runner Chenoa Au. 

With runners on first and second and two out, Lack hit a grounder up the middle to Titans shortstop Shianne Brannan, who tried to beat Willmon to second base. But Willmon was called safe and Jordan Burton continued around third to score on the play.

Aina Cabrales closed out her 10th complete game of the season. Christina Washington went the distance for the Titans and took the loss. 

"Fullerton’s a good team, they have the ingredients," Coolen said. "They’ll come out tomorrow with a vengeance. They’ll probably do different things, try to short-game us … move runners over like we did today and try to make things work that way."

Kanani Aina Cabrales and Kayla Wartner. Christina Washington and Kylie Padilla. W- Aina Cabrales. L–Washington.

Leading hitters–Hawaii: Keiki Carlos, 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Sarina Jaramillo, RBI; Rachel Lack, 2-3, HR, 2 RBIs. Cal State Fullerton: Lexi Gonzalez, RBI; Sarah Moore, 2B.

Friday

Hawaii 5, CS Fullerton 1

UC Riverside 3, Long Beach State 2, 10 inn

CSUN 3, UC Davis 2

CSUN 4, UC Davis 3, 12 inn

Cal Poly 5, UC Santa Barbara 3

UC Santa Barbara 4, Cal Poly 3

Saturday

Hawaii at CS Fullerton (DH), 9 a.m. HT

Long Beach State at UC Riverside (DH)

UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly

CSUN at UC Davis