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A comeback bid came up short and the University of Hawaii softball team fell to Saint Mary’s 3-2 on Friday on the second day of the Bank of Hawaii Invitational.
Cassidy Czeredy’s solo home run in the fourth inning gave Saint Mary’s a 3-0 lead and proved to be the deciding run as UH dropped to 8-5 overall and 1-1 in the tournament.
Gaels reliever Lujane Mussadi gave up a two-run home run to Jordan Burton in the fifth inning, but protected a one-run lead in the sixth and seventh to earn the win.
Saint Mary’s took the lead with back-to-back doubles to open the third inning with Giana Bilotta’s line drive to right center scoring Loralie Fitzpatrick for the game’s first run. One out later, Brittany Sabatini lined another double to the gap to score Bilotta before being thrown out at third.
Szeredy’s home run in the fourth stretched the Gaels’ lead to 3-0.
After Lindsey Willmon led off the first with a single, Katie Moss and Mussadi went the next 16 batters without allowing a hit. Burton broke the string with one out in the fifth inning with her first career home run, a two-run shot that stayed just inside the right-field foul pole.
Keiki Carlos went in to pitch in the fifth and kept UH within a run going into the bottom of the seventh. Mussadi then retired the Rainbow Wahine in order to close out the game for the Gaels (5-7).
The tournament continues with four games on Saturday starting at noon. UH is scheduled to face North Carolina — which swept a doubleheader on Friday — at 2 p.m. with bracket games to follow.
