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Brittnee Rossi trotted down the third-base line and stomped on home plate as if trying to bury it even deeper into the earth.
The senior’s exultation following her first home run of the season seemed emblematic of a collective pressure release for the University of Hawaii softball team.
A day after being on the other side of a historic evening, the Rainbow Wahine savored a breakthrough of their own in a 6-1 win over California on Saturday.
After Cal took the lead with a home run in the top of the first inning, Rossi answered in the bottom of the inning to set the tone for UH’s first win over Cal since 2014, first against a Pac-12 opponent since beating Utah in 2015 and first over a Power 5 conference opponent since a win against Purdue in 2017.
Shortstop Nawai Kaupe hit a two-run home run to break a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fifth and UH (6-9) closed the power-packed Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Classic with the win.
“I don’t think we have beaten a Pac-12 team since I’ve been here, so that was an incredible experience and gave us the confidence boost we needed after this tournament,” Rossi said.
“Going into conference that is what we needed. Just proving to ourselves that we can compete at that level.”
UH freshman Brianna Lopez recovered after surrendering the first-inning homer to Cal’s Acacia Anders to hold the Golden Bears (18-8) to four singles and one walk and improved to 3-3 with a complete-game victory.
“I knew this tournament would be a challenge for us to see where we’re at, and it was huge for us to get this win,” UH coach Bob Coolen said. “Bri is pitching really well for us. She’s really poised on the mound.”
UH had lost its first four games of the week by an aggregate score of 27-1 after a 9-0 loss to No. 1 Oklahoma in their first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
They were on the other end of the electric atmosphere in Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Friday when Campbell graduate Jocelyn Alo broke the NCAA career home run record in an 11-0 win in six innings.
The Sooners (20-0) closed their trip by hitting four home runs and pitchers Nicole May and Jordy Bahl combined on a five-inning no-hitter in Saturday’s rematch with the Wahine.
Alo went 2-for-2 and lined an RBI single into left field in OU’s six-run fourth inning to close her week at home at 7-for-9 with seven runs batted in, two doubles and the historic home run.
UH was hitting .107 for the week with 35 strikeouts going into the finale against Cal when Coolen had a “premonition” to put Rossi back in the leadoff spot for the first time since the opening weekend of the season.
Rossi, a leadoff hitter the past four years, had scuffled in the middle of the lineup for most of this season and used the break between games to hit the reset button.
“I took my time in locker room and literally was visualizing my swing and what it used to feel like when I was hitting well,” she said.
Rossi and Kaupe sparked the Wahine at the top of the order by going a combined 4-for-4 with four runs batted in and four runs scored. After Kaupe gave UH its first lead of the week in bottom of the fifth, Chloe Borges drove in a run with an infield single later in the inning and Rossi delivered an RBI double in the sixth.
Borges went the distance against Oklahoma in Saturday’s opener and Lopez finished out Friday’s game against the Sooners in relief of senior Ashley Murphy, who turned in a gritty five-inning effort in which she walked 13 batters but stranded 14 runners on base.
“I think confidence is what I brought into this game,” Lopez said. “Going up against OU really gave that little light in me.”
The Rainbow Wahine open the Big West schedule with a three-game series at UC Santa Barbara starting with a doubleheader on Saturday.
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