The most productive day of Sarah Robinson’s college career highlighted the University of Hawaii softball team’s 12-2 five-inning rout of host UNLV on Sunday as the Rainbow Wahine completed a dominant four-day run through the Louisville Slugger Desert Classic.
UH improved to 12-0 by sweeping through its six-game tournament schedule. The Wahine hit .383 as a team, averaged 10.3 runs, hit 11 home runs and ended five games early due to the eight-run rule during their stay in Las Vegas.
“Everyone started catching on to what needed to be done,” Hawaii coach Bob Coolen said by phone after the game. “That was to attack the pitchers, don’t get behind in the count and be confident when they’re standing in the box. And it went one through nine. Everyone swung well and had the confidence throughout the lineup.”
Robinson, a senior third baseman, ignited Sunday’s blowout by going 3-for-3 with two home runs and driving in a career-high six runs against UNLV (4-5).
Robinson opened the scoring with a three-run homer in the top of the first inning. She contributed an RBI single in a two-run second inning and hit one of UH’s three home runs in a seven-run fourth.
“She’s really swinging a hot bat,” Coolen said of Robinson, who raised her batting average to .444.
Kelly Majam hit an opposite-field homer to left field to lead off the fourth inning. Robinson added a two-run shot and Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu hit a grand slam to push UH’s lead to 12-0.
UH left-hander Kaia Parnaby shut out the Rebels through 32⁄3 innings before giving up a two-run homer. The junior gave up five hits, struck out two and walked one to improve to 5-0. Parnaby and senior Stephanie Ricketts allowed a total of six runs in the tournament, and UH was one of three teams in the 18-team field to go undefeated over the weekend. Texas Tech went 6-0, and top-ranked California was 4-0.
UH returns to Honolulu today, and will have an 11-day break before hosting the Bank of Hawaii Invitational, March 2-4. The tournament includes Florida State, UC Santa Barbara and Radford.
At Las Vegas, Nev.
| Hawaii (12-0) |
320 |
70 |
— |
12 |
15 |
0 |
| UNLV (4-5) |
000 |
20 |
— |
2 |
5 |
0 |
Kaia Parnaby and Kayla Wartner. Caitlin Klepper, Amber Petersen (2), Amanda Oliveto (4) and Heather Harrison, Samantha Henry (5). W—Parnaby. L—Klepper.
Leading hitters—Hawaii: Kelly Majam, 3-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Sarah Robinson, 3-3, 2 HR, 6 RBIs; Alex Aguirre, 2-4; Makani Duhaylonsod-Kaleimamahu, 2-3, HR, 4 RBIs. UNLV: Christina Montoya, HR, 2 RBIs.
