Texas A&M hands UH loss

One night after celebrating a win over a higher-ranked opponent, the University of Hawaii softball team found itself on the other end of the scenario on Friday.

Texas A&M, ranked 21st and 22nd in this week’s national polls, pulled off a 3-1 win over the No. 18/19 Rainbow Wahine on the fourth night of the Chevron Spring Fling.

Texas A&M pitcher Mel Dumezich struck out 14 and went 2-for-3 at the plate, and her RBI double capped the Aggies’ decisive two-out, three-run rally in the fifth inning.

The loss halted the momentum of UH’s win over No. 1/2 California on Thursday. The Wahine (23-2) close the tournament against Winthrop today at 4 p.m.

"We know how to bounce back from a loss, but obviously we need to learn how to continue after a big win," UH pitcher Stephanie Ricketts said. "Right now we’re going to work on bouncing back from the loss and hopefully we just get back on a roll.

"It’s a really tough loss right now."

Ricketts (13-2) threw 174 pitches in UH’s 10-inning win over Cal on Thursday and returned to the circle with junior Kaia Parnaby returning to Australia on Friday. Parnaby’s grandmother died earlier this week and she had already committed to participate in selections for the Australian national team. She is scheduled to return to Hawaii on Friday, when the Wahine open the Western Athletic Conference season against San Jose State.

Ricketts finished with 126 pitches, with four strikeouts and four walks against Texas A&M, and will get the starting assignment again today.

"Steph had to come off that emotional win last night, 10 innings of really power pitching," UH head coach Bob Coolen said. "She was in control and tonight she wasn’t … and then we weren’t making plays behind her."

UH took the lead in the bottom of the first when Sharla Kliebenstein drew a bases-loaded walk. But Dumezich (12-5) shut UH down the rest of the way and set a career high in strikeouts.

"She kept on jamming a lot of us," said UH third baseman Sarah Robinson, who had the first of UH’s three hits. "We were trying to adjust and never could, really."

The Wahine temporarily protected the lead in the fifth when left fielder Alex Aguirre threw Amber Garza out at the plate. But with two out and two on, Meagan May’s popup into shallow left fell in between Aguirre and shortstop Jessica Iwata to bring in both runners. Dumezich followed with an RBI double off the left-field fence to give the Aggies a 3-1 lead that held up the rest of the way. UH hitters now have 49 strikeouts in their four games in the tournament.

"We have doubt at the plate. That’s something we need to get out of them because we’re going to face some good pitchers," Coolen said. "We’re going to face pitchers that want to beat us."