Hawaii closed an undulating run in the Jack in the Box Spring Fling Tournament on a downswing.

The Rainbow Wahine were held to five singles by James Madison right-hander Heather Kiefer, and the Dukes hit three home runs in a 6-0 victory over UH in Sunday’s tournament finale at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

James Madison’s Jailyn Ford homered twice and Kiefer threw 14 shutout innings in two starts as the Rainbow Wahine were blanked for the second time this season. Kiefer began her day with a complete-game effort in the Dukes’ 3-0 win over California, and James Madison went 4-0 in the tournament.

"She was just on and we were lazy at the plate," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "Some kids got some good hits, but not many of them. Most of them were killing worms at the plate. We were swinging late.

"(Dukes coach Mickey Dean) has some good pitching, he has some aggressive hitters that get up there and swing the bat and we were just outplayed."

UH (11-10) will have two days to regroup before opening the Pepsi Rainbow Wahine Classic on Wednesday against Valparaiso. James Madison is sticking around for that tournament as well, and the Dukes (14-8) and Wahine are scheduled to meet again on Thursday.

After going 2-3 in the Spring Fling, the Wahine face another challenging week with No. 2 Oregon and BYU also in the Rainbow Wahine Classic field.

"It’s going to be tough the rest of our preseason. We have to figure some things out," Coolen said. "We’re not together as a pitching unit right now."

Coming off an impressive performance in a win over Cal on Saturday, UH left-hander Loie Kesterson got the start on Sunday and allowed four runs on eight hits in 41/3 innings. Heather Morales relieved Kesterson (5-3) in the fifth and gave up two runs while throwing the final 22/3 innings.

James Madison — which is spending the week in Kaneohe — entered the game with six home runs this season. Ford hit her first home run of the season to lead off the second inning and added a two-run shot in the fifth to extend the Dukes’ lead to 4-0. Caitlin Sandy capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the seventh.

That was more than enough for Kiefer, who struck out three and walked four to earn her third win of the tournament. She threw just 67 pitches against Cal and 82 against UH.

The Dukes’ defense helped Kiefer out when UH did make solid contact at the plate, including a putout at first on Sarina Jaramillo’s sharp grounder into right field in the fifth and double plays in the sixth and seventh innings.

"It was amazing, just a Herculean effort," Dean said. "She didn’t try to overthrow, the defense really got her out of some tough situations and she made some nice plays herself. Because when you face Cal and you face Hawaii, you know they’re going to hit the ball and you know you’re probably not going to get a lot of strikeouts, so you have to play good defense.

"I thought she kept the ball down, which didn’t allow the ball to get out of the park and we played good defense behind her."

UH’s Keiki Carlos’ single in the sixth inning extended her hitting streak to six games. The sophomore went 8-for-16 in the tournament and moved into the team lead with a .394 overall batting average.

At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium

Leading hitters—JMU: Erica Field, RBI; Jailyn Ford, 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBIs; Caitlin Sandy, HR, 2 RBIs; Mimi Morris, 2-2, 2B.

Sunday’s early game
James Madison 3, California 0