For the second straight game, University of Hawaii freshman Nicole Lopez provided the deciding swing in a one-run victory for the Rainbow Wahine softball team.

Lopez’s one-out double in the top of the seventh inning drove in Sarah Muzik with the go-ahead run and UH pulled out a 3-2 win to open its final series of the season.

“They’re our table setters and they got the job done,” UH coach Bob Coolen said of the freshmen at the top of the UH batting order.

Lopez hit a walk-off home run in last Saturday’s home finale against Cal Poly and delivered again in the series opener at LBSU Softball Complex on Friday to send UH (24-28, 8-11 Big West) to its fourth win in the last five games. Lopez’s game-winning double extended her hitting streak to 10 and she’s reached base in each of UH’s last 17 games.

UH closes the season today with a doubleheader with the 49ers (30-20, 10-9) starting at 9 a.m. Both games will be shown on ESPN3.

UH sophomore Brittany Hitchcock gave up four hits, including two solo home runs, and issued a season-high five walks on Friday. But she thwarted LBSU scoring opportunities throughout the afternoon to win her fourth straight start.

Hitchcock, the reigning Big West pitcher of the week, entered the game with seven walks this season and improved to 13-14. LBSU’s Christina Clermont also walked five, struck out five and gave up five hits in the loss.

After Tierra Falo gave LBSU the lead with a home run in the second inning, UH tied the game in the top of the fourth on Rachael Turner’s RBI double and took a 2-1 lead when Tayana Mata scored on a wild pitch.

The Wahine loaded the bases with one out in the fifth, but Heather Morales lined out and Muzik was caught off of second for an inning-ending double play.

“I thought that might have been the game right there,” Coolen said. “The momentum shifted over to their side turning that double play.”

The 49ers tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Darian Tautalafua, the Big West’s career home run leader, launched her 15th longball of the season to lead off the inning. Hitchcock issued two walks with one out but preserved the tie with consecutive groundouts.

Muzik singled with one out in the seventh and went to second on an error. Lopez lined the next pitch down the left-field line to give UH the lead and Hitchcock retired LBSU in order in the bottom of the inning to win her fourth straight start.

“We played well,” said Coolen, who watched his daughter, Demi, pick up her diploma at USC’s commencement ceremony prior to the game. “Everyone made the plays we’re supposed to make and they played real loose.”

BIG WEST SOFTBALL

Friday

Hawaii 3, Long Beach State 2

Cal State Fullerton 3, UC Santa Barbara 1

Cal Poly 3, UC Riverside 1

Cal Poly 2, UC Riverside 1

Cal State Northridge 6, UC Davis 5

Cal State Northridge 3, UC Davis 1

Today

Hawaii at Long Beach State (DH), 9 a.m.

UC Riverside at Cal Poly, 10 a.m.

UC Davis at Cal State Northridge, 10 a.m.

UC Santa Barbara at Cal State Fullerton (DH), 11 a.m.