On the eve of senior day, Hawaii’s upperclassmen opened their final series at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium by powering a 10-5 comeback win over UC Davis on Friday in the first game of a Big West doubleheader.
Jordan Burton drove in UH’s first run, Leisha Li’ili’i and Kayla Wartner both homered and the Rainbow Wahine overcame a 5-1 deficit to win the opener of a three-game series.
UH kept the bats hot between games and launched five more homers, two off the bat of second baseman Tayana Mata, in a 13-1 series-clinching rout in five innings.
Li’ili’i homered again in the second game and went 6-for-7 in the doubleheader and drove in seven runs for the Wahine (31-22, 12-8 Big West).
Freshman Brittany Hitchcock struck out five, gave up 11 hits and improved to 17-7 with a complete-game victory in the opener. Sophomore Kanani Aina Cabrales held UCD to four hits and struck out four in the second game and also picked up a complete-game win.
The series and the season conclude with a single game on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Burton, Li’ili’i, Wartner and manager Justine Tjaden will be honored in a senior day ceremony following the game.
UH trailed 5-3 going into the bottom of the fourth inning of the opener and rallied to tie the game on Wartner’s sacrifice fly and Keiki Carlos’ RBI single. The Wahine then jumped ahead on Heather Morales’ three-run home run to left center.
After a pitching change, Li’ili’i — who drilled a two-run double in the third — launched her 10th homer of the season and 48th of her career to cap UH’s six-run outburst.
Wartner also hit her 10th homer of the season with an opposite-field shot in the sixth inning and UH reached the 30-win mark.
UC Davis (18-30, 6-14) took the lead in the top of the second on Krista Bava’s two-run homer to right and added three runs in the third after a two-out error extended the inning. A run scored on the error and Ashley Lotoszynski’s two-run single stretched the Aggies lead to 5-1.
But the Wahine erased the deficit in the fourth and Hitchcock held off the Aggies.
The Wahine took control early in the second game with another power surge. Li’ili’i delivered RBI singles in her first two times at bat and Mata and Carlos homered in UH’s six-run second inning.
| At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium |
| UCD (18-29, 6-13) |
023 |
000 |
0 |
— |
5 |
11 |
3 |
| UH (30-22, 11-8) |
012 |
601 |
x |
— |
10 |
10 |
2 |
Leah Munden, Dana Cruse (4) and Katie Robertson. Brittany Hitchcock and Kayla Wartner. W–Hitchcock. L–Munden.
Leading hitters–UCD: Christa Castello, 2-3; Brianna Warner 2-4; Amy Nunez 2-4; Alexis Carney, RBI; Krista Bava, 2-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Ashley Lotoszynski, 2 RBIs. Hawaii: Kayla Wartner, HR, 2 RBIs; Keiki Carlos, RBI; Heather Morales, 2-3, HR, 3 RBIs; Leisha Li’ili”i, 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBIs; Jordan Burton, 2-3, RBI.
| UCD (18-30, 6-14) |
000 |
01 |
— |
1 |
4 |
1 |
| UH (31-22, 12-8) |
165 |
1x |
— |
13 |
11 |
1 |
Andrea Reynolds, Dana Cruse (2), Justine Vela (3), Alicia Paine (4) and Lauryn Saunders, Phalen Cochran (4). Kanani Aina Cabrales and Kayla Wartner. W–Aina Cabrales. L–Reynolds.
Leading hitters–UCD: Christa Castello, RBI. Hawaii: Keiki Carlos, 2-4, HR, 4 RBIs; Heather Morales, 2B; Leisha Li’ili’i, 3-3, HR, 4 RBIs; Ulu Matagiese, HR; Tayana Mata, 2-2, 2 HR, 3 RBIs.
