Wahine end losing streak at 4

There was a feeling of relief after the University of Hawaii softball team finally ended its four-game losing skid.

Hawaii wrapped up the Hawaii Pacific Health Rainbow Wahine Classic with a 4-3, eight-inning win over Columbia at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Sunday. The win ended a tough tournament in which Hawaii went just 1-4 and had a difficult time scoring runs to support its pitching staff.

Even in victory, the Rainbow Wahine (18-13) had to rally against the Lions (2-8) by scoring the tying run in the bottom of the seventh and the winning run in the eighth. The teams meet again in a doubleheader Tuesday starting at 6 p.m.

“Relief because we could’ve shot ourselves in the foot right there, lost that ballgame,” Hawaii coach Bob Coolen said after the win.

Hawaii had a good performance in its Spring Fling Tournament last weekend, beating two Pac-12 teams. But in the four losses leading up to Sunday, Hawaii managed just four runs. Sunday also marked the 12th day the Rainbow Wahine have played in March.

“As a coach, do you sit back and say too many games, not enough time off?” Coolen said. “Are we mentally out of it because our physicality is not up to par? I got to do a lot of soul searching because I have a similar schedule next year.”

The Lions, who went 0-4 in the tournament, rallied for three runs in the top of the fourth to take a 3-2 lead. Hawaii tied it in the bottom of the seventh when Sarina Jaramillo singled to right and Keiki Carlos scored from third after the throw from Mackensy Lakian went off the glove of catcher Liz Caggiano. But Columbia pitcher Tessa Kroll induced a flyout and pop-up from Heather Morales and Leisha Li’ili’i, two of Hawaii’s power hitters, to end the seventh.

“Tessa on the mound did a great job,” said Columbia senior Kayla Shimoda, a Punahou graduate who had a hit, scored a run and was named to the all-tournament team. “She kept the batters off balance. “

Hawaii pitcher Brittany Hitchcock retired all three batters she faced in the eighth. She wasn’t concerned about the extra inning after Hawaii faced a similar situation on March 5 and beat Longwood 8-7 in eight innings.

“I was a little more relaxed in the extra inning, just because I know we’ve worked through that before when we got the win (against Longwood) in the eighth inning,” said Hitchcock.

With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, Li’ili’i started off the bottom of the eighth at second base and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Rachel Lack. Lindsey Willmon was hit by a pitch and Kristina Akiona reached on an error to load the bases. Tayana Mata then drew a walk to score Li’ili’i.

“It’s been kind of a tough week for us,” Hitchcock said. “We come in playing a lot of games and our bats just weren’t really finding holes and we weren’t able to put runs together this whole week. But we came out today wanting to get that win after we’ve been losing a couple of games.”

At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium

Tessa Kroll and Liz Caggiano. Brittany Hitchcock and Kayla Wartner. W–Hitchcock. L–Kroll.

Leading hitters–CU: Taylor Troutt, 1-3, 2 RBIs. UH: Heather Morales 3-4; Leisha Li’ili’i 2-3, RBI; Sarina Jaramillo 2-4, 2b.

All-tournament team

Western Illinois: Sammy Marshall, Kaycee Hart, Tierny Bottino. St. Bonaventure: Kelli Rohan, Emily McDonough. Hawaii: Heather Morales, Sarina Jaramillo Columbia: Kayla Shimoda. Virginia Tech: Katey Smith, Mikaela Aiken.

Most Valuable Player: Kylie McGoldrick, Virginia Tech. Most Valuable Pitcher: Maggie Tyler, Virginia Tech.