Rainbow Wahine fall at Big West tournament, play again today
Cal State Northridge edged Hawaii 4-3 today at the inaugural Big West Softball Championship tournament in Fullerton, Calif.
Despite hitting three home runs, the Rainbow Wahine now need to win a survival game tonight at Anderson Family Field to earn another shot Saturday at the Matadors for the conference championship.
Hawaii had a four-game winning streak snapped, partly due to defensive lapses.
UH needs three wins in a row — including two against CSUN on Saturday — to take the Big West title and extend retiring coach Bob Coolen’s final season to the program’s first NCAA Tournament since 2013.
UH (33-19) trailed CSUN for most of the game with dormant offense other than Carys Murakami’s first-inning solo home run.
The Matadors’ Jerzie Liana, a Waianae graduate, sparked a three-run second inning with a leadoff triple. Kylie Galindo singled her in, and CSUN built its lead to 4-1.
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But the Wahine — who used a nine-run seventh inning to beat top-seeded Cal State Fullerton on Thursday — got the tying run to second with one out in the seventh before a double play propelled CSUN to Saturday unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament. That means the Matadors have two chances to win one game, whoever they end up playing.
UH’s Chloe Borges atoned for a costly error with a solo homer in the sixth, making it 4-2.
Jamie McGaughey started the seventh with her second seventh-inning homer in as many games, closing the gap to 4-3. Liliana Thomas followed with a single to right, and advanced a base when second baseman Larissa Flores caught a liner and threw wild when she tried to double Thomas up.
But the game ended two pitches later when Flores caught a line shot and touched second before Thomas could get back to the base.
