Coming of a late-inning loss on Thursday at the Wilson/DeMarini Desert Classic in Las Vegas, the University of Hawaii softball team got off the shaky start on Friday before storming back to sweep a doubleheader against Utah State and Utah Valley.

The Rainbow Wahine rallied from a 7-0 deficit to beat Utah State 11-10 on Kayla Wartner’s two-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning at Stephanie Lynn Craig Softball Complex in Henderson, Nev.

UH rolled the momentum into the second game and pounded Utah Valley 17-3 in five innings.

UH sophomore Heather Morales threw 4 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win against Utah State. Freshman Brittany Hitchcock picked up the win against Utah Valley thanks in part to a 10-run second inning outburst from the UH offense.

After seeing BYU walk off with a 5-4 win in the tournament’s opening game on Thursday, UH fell behind Utah State when ‘Iolani graduate Kirstyn Namba hit the first of two Aggie home runs in top of the first inning and Campbell’s Nicole Arata added a two-run homer in the third inning to give the Aggies a 7-0 lead.

Lindsey Willmon ignited the UH offense with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third and drove in  two more runs with a single in the fourth.

Wartner contributed to the comeback with a two-run home run later in the fourth inning to cut Utah State’s lead to 7-6. But the Aggies responded with a three-run fifth and UH scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to close to within a run.

With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Willmon tripled to extend the game and Wartner followed with her second homer to send UH to the win.

After a scoreless first inning against Utah Valley, which won the Western Athletic Conference tournament last season, UH broke away with a 10-run rally in the top of the second aided by four UVU errors and triggered  by Keiki Carlos’ two-run homer.

Utah Valley answered with three runs in the bottom of the second, but UH pulled away with seven runs in the fifth, with Ulu Matagiese delivering a bases-loaded triple before scoring the game’s final run on a passed ball.

The tournament continues Saturday with UH taking on No. 12 UCLA.