UH shuts out Ole Miss and UMKC in doubleheader

A doubleheader sweep on Friday produced a couple of impressive numbers for the University of Hawaii softball team.

Rainbow Wahine pitchers Kanani Aina Cabrales and Brittany Hitchcock turned in shutout performances in wins over Ole Miss and UMKC — running their streak of scoreless innings to 21 — to give UH coach Bob Coolen his 900th victory leading the program.

“I wasn’t even thinking about 900,” said Coolen, who opened his 25th season on Thursday. “I was thinking about what kind of team would we have. … We knew our strength was going to be our pitching because we have two upperclassmen.”

Aina Cabrales held Ole Miss to four hits, walked three and struck out three in UH’s 3-0 win to open Friday’s doubleheader in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

“My defense, they’re the No. 1 reason we won that game,” Aina Cabrales said after working out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the seventh inning.

Aina Cabrales got the offensive support she needed in a three-run fifth inning. Freshman third baseman Nicole Lopez opened the scoring with an RBI double down the third base line that drove in Breanna Ojala. Sarah Muzik then scored from third on a wild pitch and Lopez came in on Heather Morales’ sacrifice fly to the center-field fence.

“We’re starting to relax a little bit,” Coolen said. “We need the whole lineup to hit, but right now we got enough tonight and it looked really good and Kanani looked really good on the mound.”

Hitchcock then went the distance in her second shutout of the tournament in a 1-0 win over UMKC. She struck out four and walked none while holding the Kangaroos to four hits.

Along with driving in UH’s first run of the afternoon, Lopez — a former All-State performer at Mid-Pacific — also tripled into the right-field corner to cap a 10-pitch at-bat in the second inning against Ole Miss. She later provided the lone run against UMKC with a solo home run in the bottom of the third.

“Nicole is just a gamer and we knew that back in the day when we were watching her as a freshman with Keiki (Carlos) at Mid-Pac when Keiki was a senior,” Coolen said. “I watched her for four years, on the road, at home, and I’m glad she decided she wanted to stay home.”

UH (3-0) will be the top seed in today’s bracket portion of the tournament and faces UMKC (0-3) again at 11:30 a.m. Ole Miss (2-1) plays Saint Mary’s (1-2) at 9:30 a.m. The losers meet for third place at 1:30 p.m. with the championship game to follow.

In UH’s first game on Friday, Ole Miss put the leadoff runner on in each of the first three innings, including a Natalie Martinez double in the top of the second. But UH second baseman Tayana Mata ran down a foul pop-up, then threw out Martinez trying to advance to third.

Aina Cabrales retired nine straight before hitting Paige McKinney with one out in the top of the seventh and back-to-back pinch-hit singles loaded the bases. Aina Cabrales then struck out Ashton Lampton on three pitches and Hailey Lunderman grounded out to Lopez at third to end the game.

“She found her zone. She was trying to figure out the umpire’s zone, and she just kept at it … and she got some big outs when we needed them,” Coolen said.

Madi Osias, Kayla Landwehrmier (6) and Sarah Von Schaik. Kanani Aina Cabrales and Rachel Lack. W—Aina Cabrales. L—Osias. Leading hitters—Ole Miss: Natalie Martinez, 2B. Hawaii: Sarah Muzik, 2-3; Nicole Lopez, 2-3, 2B, 3B, RBI; Heather Morales, RBI.

Amber Grove and Alexandra Friloux. Brittany Hitchcock and Rachel Lack. W— Hitchcock. L—Grove.

Leading hitters—UMKC: Katie Kelley, 2B. Hawaii: Lopez 2-3, HR.

Friday

Ole Miss 5, Saint Mary’s 0

Saint Mary’s 3, UMKC 2

Hawaii 3, Ole Miss 0

Hawaii 1, UMKC 0

Today

Ole Miss vs. Saint Mary’s, 9:30 a.m.

UMKC vs. Hawaii, 11:30 a.m.

Third-place game, 1:30 p.m.

Championship game, 3:30 p.m.