The University of Hawaii softball team continued its California road trip with an 8-1 win over Cal State Bakersfield today in a nonconference game.

UH catcher Kayla Wartner went 3-for-4, drove in three runs and hit her ninth home run of the season as the Rainbow Wahine improved to 34-8.

Senior pitcher Kaia Parnaby bounced back from Sunday’s loss at Cal State Fullerton by striking out nine over six innings against the Roadrunners while raising her record to 31-4. Parnaby is one win away from tying the program’s single-season record set by Melissa Coogan in 2003.

UH opened the game with singles by Kelly Majam and Wartner. Keiki Carlos then walked to load the bases. Leisha Li’ili’i drew a walk with one out to score Majam. Wartner later scored on Jazmine Zamora’s sacrifice fly.

Wartner extended the lead to 4-0 with a two-run home run with one out in the top of the fourth.

Majam and Wartner again combined to spark a three-run rally in the sixth. Majam doubled to lead off the inning and Wartner followed with an RBI single. Zamora later drove in Carlos and Jessica Iwata scored on the front end of an attempted double-steal to push the lead to 7-0.

Parnaby took a shutout into the bottom of the sixth until Shay Fryer hit a leadoff home run.

UH freshman Kristina Akiona answered by hitting her first career home run in the top of the seventh to give UH an 8-1 lead and Loie Kesterson threw an inning of scoreless relief to close out the game.

UH held its ground in the national polls released today. The Rainbow Wahine remained 15th in the USA Today/NFCA Division I Top 25 and 20th in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25.

UH resumes Big West play with a three-game series at Cal Poly starting Friday.