A seemingly interminable fourth inning brought the University of Hawaii softball team’s week in Las Vegas to an abrupt end in a 9-0 loss to Utah today.

The Utes did all of their scoring in the bottom of the fourth, peppering Rainbow Wahine pitching for nine singles and aided by two errors and two wild pitches, to close UH’s run in the DeMarini Desert Classic.

UH finished the four-day tournament at 2-4 and returns home at 6-6 overall. The Wahine play host to Portland State and Utah Valley in the Bank of Hawaii Invitational starting Friday.

UH sophomore Brittany Hitchcock held Utah without a hit through three innings with two baserunners reaching on errors. The Utes (8-3) then sent 15 batters to the plate in the fourth inning and Katie Donovan closed out a two-hit shutout in the fifth.

Donovan struck out seven and walked one in the complete-game victory.

Hitchcock struck out three and walked none in 3 2/3 innings while falling to 3-4. UH’s two errors in the fourth led to six unearned runs in the inning.

Anissa Urtez led off the fourth with the Utes’ first hit off of Hitchcock and Utah loaded the bases with two more singles. The Utes then took a 3-0 lead without a ball leaving the infield. Urtez scored on Ally Dickman’s groundout, Heather Bowen came in on an error and Kristen Stewart scored on a wild pitch.

Another RBI groundout and an infield single scored two more runs and Urtez drove in Utah’s sixth run with a single to center prompting a pitching change.

The scoring continued with two more singles to bring the eight-run rule into effect. Utah’s ninth run scored on a throwing error before UH finally got out of the inning.