Rainbow Wahine sweep doubleheader against UC Davis
Hawaii’s seniors opened their final series at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium by powering UH to a 10-5 comeback win over UC Davis on Friday in the first game of a Big West doubleheader.
Jordan Burton drove in UH’s first run, Leisha Li’ili’i and Kayla Wartner both homered and the Rainbow Wahine overcame a 5-1 deficit to win the opener of a three-game series.
UH kept the bats hot between games and launched five more homers, two off the bat of second baseman Tayana Mata, in a 13-1 series-clinching rout in five innings.
Li’ili’i homered again in the second game and went 6-for-7 in the doubleheader and drove in seven runs for the Wahine (31-22, 12-8 Big West).
The series and the season conclude with a single game on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Burton, Li’ili’i, Wartner and manager Justine Tjaden will be honored in senior day ceremony following the game.
UH trailed 5-3 going into the bottom of the fourth and rallied to tie the game on Wartner’s sacrifice fly and Keiki Carlos’ RBI single. The Wahine then jumped ahead on Heather Morales’ three-run home run to left center. After a pitching change, Li’ili’i — who lined a two-run double to the left-center gap in the third inning — launched her 10th homer of the season and 48th of her career to cap UH’s six-run outburst.
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Wartner also recorded her 10th homer of the season with an opposite-field shot in the sixth inning and UH reached the 30-win mark.
Freshman Brittany Hitchcock struck out five, gave up 11 hits and improved to 17-7 with a complete-game victory.
The Wahine took control early in the second game with another power surge. Lii’li’i delivered RBI singles in her first two times at bat and Mata and Carlos homered in UH’s six-run second inning. Mata’s two-run shot was her second of the season and Carlos added a three-run shot to left field for UH’s fifth homer of the doubleheader.
Mata led off the third with her second homer of the game and Li’ili’i and Matagiese hit back-to-back homers later in the five-run inning.
Sophomore Kanani Aina Cabrales held UCD to four hits and struck out four in the second game and also picked up a complete-game win.