Wahine squander early lead in softball loss

Hawaii jumped out to a four-run lead, but No. 25 BYU rallied to a 7-5 win over the Rainbow Wahine softball team on Thursday in the opening game of the DeMarini Desert Classic in Las Vegas.

Sophomore catcher Heather Cameron’s first career home run highlighted UH’s early surge, but the Cougars jumped ahead with a five-run third inning, taking the lead on Caitlyn Alldredge’s three-run homer.

UH freshman Callee Heen tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third, but BYU (3-2) reclaimed the lead on Rylee Jensen’s run-scoring single in the fourth and Cougars ace McKenna Bull held off the Wahine (2-2) over the final four innings to earn the win in relief.

“We outhit them, I thought we outplayed them, but we just didn’t outscore them, and the first two don’t matter if you don’t win,” UH coach Bob Coolen said.

UH junior Brittany Hitchcock (1-2) gave up six runs on five hits, walked three and struck out one over three innings in the loss. Junior right-hander Dana Thomsen allowed one run on five hits over four innings and struck out three in her UH debut.

UH took the lead in the first inning on RBI singles by Sarah Muzik and Heen. Cameron’s two-run homer in the second gave the Wahine a 4-0 lead. Seven UH players recorded hits the first time through the order against the Cougars, who posted a win over No. 8 Washington and lost to No. 2 Auburn and No. 4 Oklahoma last week.

But BYU answered in the third, with Alldredge giving the Cougars their first lead with her homer to left after a walk and single with two out.

“We came out on fire. Brittany just started pitching a little too fine and there was just that one inning,” Coolen said.

“I was pleased with Dana, finally shaking the rust off after a year not pitching competitively. When we’re healthy we’re going to have three pitchers, so that’s good for us.”

Coolen said Hitchcock and senior pitcher Kanani Aina Cabrales are fighting through illnesses going into a doubleheader against San Jose State and Texas State today.