The Hawaii offense went four innings before notching its first hit of the season, but that swing was enough to back up Brittany Hitchcock’s brilliant opening-night performance on Thursday.
Rainbow Wahine first baseman Heather Morales broke up a perfect game with a home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning in support of Hitchcock’s two-hit shutout in the Rainbow Wahine softball team’s 2-0 win over Saint Mary’s in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic.
Hitchcock set a career high with eight strikeouts and walked none in her fifth shutout with the Rainbow Wahine. She threw 65 of her 87 pitches for strikes and allowed just three baserunners in a game that took 88 minutes to complete.
She gave up a single on her first pitch of the season, got the next batter to ground into a forceout, then retired 15 in a row.
“I just wanted to really remain focused, so once I gave up that first hit it kind of reset me and I just charged in from there,” Hitchcock said.
The sophomore right-hander added that she “noticed I was effective on the inside with them, so I tried to stick with that and Aussie (catcher Rachel Lack) did a great job behind the plate mixing the pitches and overall had a good game pitch-calling.”
Saint Mary’s right hander Katie Moss retired the first 12 batters she faced with five strikeouts until Morales hammered her sixth career home run to center field on the first pitch of the fifth inning.
“Coach Bob (Coolen) had told us to move up in front of the plate more and I was just looking for the first inside low pitch and I got it and swung,” Morales said.
The Gaels threatened in the top of the sixth with a runner on second and two out when UH shortstop Breanna Ojala, a late addition to the starting lineup, made a diving stop of Monika Reichhardt’s grounder up the middle. Dylan Linton continued around third and Ojala threw a strike to Lack to end the inning.
UH gave Hitchcock more cushion in the bottom of the inning when freshman Nicole Lopez lined a two-out double into the right-center gap to score Sarah Muzik from second. Hitchcock then retired the Gaels in order in the seventh to cap the opening-night victory.
“(Lopez) can hit the ball anywhere. She’s a spray hitter, she’s a power hitter,” Coolen said. “We just had everything set up for Nicole to come through and that’s why we had Nicole in that No. 2 slot.”
Moss also held UH to two hits, struck out eight and walked two in the loss.
The tournament continues today with UH facing Ole Miss (1-0) at 5 p.m. and UMKC (0-1) at 7.
| At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium |
| Saint Mary’s (0-1) |
000 |
000 |
0 |
— |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Hawaii (1-0) |
000 |
011 |
0 |
— |
2 |
2 |
0 |
Katie Moss and Bailey Lotz. Brittany Hitchcock and Rachel Lack. W—Hitchcock. L—Moss.
Leading hitters—Hawaii: Nicole Lopez, 2B, RBI; Heather Morales, HR.
Thursday
Ole Miss 5, UMKC 4
Today
St. Mary’s vs. Ole Miss, noon
St. Mary’s vs. UMKC, 2:30 p.m.
Ole Miss vs. Hawaii, 5 p.m.
UMKC vs. Hawaii, 7 p.m.
Saturday
No. 2 seed vs. No. 3 seed, 9:30 a.m.
No. 1 seed vs. No. 4 seed, 11:30 a.m.
Third-place game, 1:30 p.m.
Championship game, 3:30 p.m.
