Wahine win tourney with 12th-inning blast

Hawaii’s nine-day marathon finally ended with Sharla Kliebenstein’s jog around the bases.

The Rainbow Wahine softball team had played 10 games over a nine-day stretch when they took the field for the championship matchup of the Chevron Spring Fling Tournament Saturday afternoon.

Game No. 11 was the most stubborn of the bunch, refusing to end until Kliebenstein launched a home run to lead off the bottom of the 12th inning that sent No. 20/23 UH to a 3-2 win over Syracuse in the tournament final.

"That was the longest game I’ve ever played in my life, I think," Kliebenstein said. "I’m glad it’s done and we got the win."

On a day that produced some bizarre numbers, UH senior Kaia Parnaby broke the program’s single-game strikeout record with 17 in an eight-inning relief appearance.

Parnaby had thrown a complete game in UH’s 5-1 win over Baylor earlier in the afternoon and entered the final in the fifth inning in relief of freshman Loie Kesterson. She gave up a run on a wild pitch that inning to help Syracuse take a 2-0 lead before Kelly Majam tied the score with a two-run homer — her second of the day — in the bottom of the fifth.

Parnaby and Syracuse sophomore Lindsay Taylor, who threw 19-plus innings on Saturday, extended the game. Parnaby had tied the previous strikeout record of 15 against the Orange last Monday and broke the mark she’d shared with Brooke Wilkins when she struck out the side in the 12th inning.

"It was pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning, take one batter at a time and see what happens," said Parnaby, who posted 43 strikeouts in three appearances against Syracuse this week.

"I brought Kaia in and thought maybe we’re going to get three innings," UH head coach Bob Coolen said, "and then we couldn’t do anything (offensively)."

That is, until Kliebenstein came up in the 12th.

She was 1-for-10 with four strikeouts in three games against Taylor before hitting her fourth home run of the season to punctuate the arduous homestand.

"I could never hit her. In the game (Friday) I struck out thrice and I was so frustrated," Kliebenstein said. "All she’s been pitching was changeups, which is the hardest pitch for me to adjust to. But Coach Bob tells me to look for it, expect it and take my hands to the ball. That’s what I did, tried to swing as hard as I could and it went out."

As long a day as UH endured, Syracuse’s was even longer. The Orange, the fourth seed in the bracket, arrived at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium around 8:30 a.m. to prepare for their game against Utah.

Taylor picked up a save in that one, then earned a complete-game win in an 8-1 upset of No. 4/5 California. She went the distance again against UH, finishing with four strikeouts, in a game that ended at 7:10 p.m.

"That was their third game, fourth considering how many innings we just played," Parnaby said. "They played a hell of a game. Their pitcher didn’t give up. She threw an awesome game. A lot of respect to them. They did really well."

UH joined Syracuse in the final after the win over No. 15/19 Baylor earlier in the afternoon. Majam’s two-run homer in the fifth sparked the Wahine as they avenged Friday’s loss to the Bears.