Box Score

LAS CRUCES, N.M.—The No. 21/23 University of Hawai`i softball team (42-12, 19-1 WAC) battled back to defeat San Jose State (33-24, 8-13 WAC), 16-8 in six innings at the NMSU Softball complex. UH blasted six home runs in the win, tying the NCAA DI team single-season record of 134 to open the 2010 Western Athletic Conference with a bang.

Melissa Gonzalez led the 'Bows at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two homers, two doubles, and a career-high six RBI. It marked the fifth time this season that Gonzalez has hit two home runs in a game (at UNLV-Feb. 19; Lipscomb-Mar.18; at Boise State-Apr. 10; Louisiana Tech-Apr. 17; vs. SJSU-May 13). She tied the WAC tournament record for both home runs in a game and home runs in the tournament with two. It is the fourth time in her career that she hit two doubles in a game and her six RBI was one more than her previous game-high of five set against Fresno State earlier this year.

 

Joining Gonzalez in in the home run barrage today were Kanani Pu'u-Warren, Katie Grimes, Alex Aguirre, and Kelly Majam. Majam's opposite-field blast to left-centerfield was UH's 134th home run of the season that tied the NCAA record set by Arizona last season.

 

UH pitcher, Stephanie Ricketts (23-6, 13-0 WAC) earned the win, throwing five innings. She gave up eight runs—five earned—on six hits with seven walks and two strike outs. Freshman southpaw, Kaia Parnaby earned her second save of the season after taking over with a one run lead.

 

The 'Bows fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning. Kelly Fangonilo led the game off with a looping single to right. UH got the next to outs on a ground out to short and a fly to right. But then Ricketts gave up two walks to load the bases for Breanna Lopez, who hit a ground ball to first, but a fielding error allowed Fangonilo to score from third. Natasha Hawkins then hit a single to right, driving in both Brittany McConnell and Ursula Lopez, but on the play, Hawkins was gunned down at second on a 9-to-2-to-6 relay as she tried to advance to second on the throw home.

 

UH came right back to tie it at 3-3 in the bottom of the frame. Majam led off with a walk and Jessica Iwata followed with a double to the left-centefield gap, moving Majam to third. Gonzalez then launched her first home run of the day—21st of the season—over the leftfield fence. Hawai`i kept the rally going, loading the bases on two outs, but the Spartans got a fly to center to end the inning.

 

Gonzalez struck again the second inning, with a two-run bomb that cleared the trees beyond the centerfield fence, giving UH a 5-3 lead after two complete innings.

 

But the scrappy Spartans then posted four runs in the top of the fourth to retake the lead, 7-5. Morgan Otto led the inning off with a single to center and moved to send on a walk to Julianne Aiello. McConnell then hit a sacrifice fly to right for the first run of the third. Ursula Lopez then drew another walk which brought up Breanna Lopez, who drilled a three-run home run to left.

 

The 'Bows got one run back in the third on a solo shot by Pu`u-Warren to centerfield.

 

In the top of the fourth, SJSU loaded the bases on a triple to right, a walk and a fielding error. But the 'Bows got out of the jam by turning a home-to-one double play started by Ricketts on the mound to thwart the rally.

 

San Jose State posted another run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by BranDee Garcia, giving the visiting team an 8-7 lead.

 

Hawai`i responded in the fifth, scoring five runs to leapfrog SJSU for a 12-8 advantage. Grimes led the inning off with a solo home run. The Spartans' Jennifer Ames then was relieved by Jaclyn Imhof, who walked the first batter she faced, Traci Yoshikawa. She then got a pop up to short for the first out. Iwata then hit a single to center, but a fly out to right gave SJSU two outs. Jenna Rodriguez then came through with an RBI-single to left to drive in Yoshikawa from second. Then Aguirre drove an opposite-field shot that sailed over the rightfield fence for a three run home run.

 

Parnaby then entered the game in the circle for Hawai`i and got the job done. She struck out the first batter she faced. But the next batter, Aiello reached on a fielding error on the third baseman, but McConnell then ground into her second double play of the game to end the inning. Amanda Tauali'i made a nice play at first, fielding the ball, stepping on the bag and firing to Iwata at short who tagged the runner sliding into second to complete the double play.

 

Yoshikawa started off UH's final rally in the sixth inning with a single to center. Majam then followed with her 26th home run of the season. Iwata then walked for the second time in the game and Gonzalez followed with her second double of the game. Rodriguez then came through with a single up the middle, driving in both Iwata and pinch runner Tara Anguiano to end the game by the eight-run mercy rule, 16-8.

 

For San Jose State, Imhof took the loss, dropping her record to 10-6 on the season. She threw the final 1.1 innings, giving up eight runs on eight hits with two walks. Amanda Pridmore started the game for the Spartans, throwing 1.1 innings. She gave up five runs on four hits with four walks and a strike out. Ames was the middle pitcher, tossing 2.2 innings, giving up three runs on four hits with a walk and a strike out.

 

With the win over SJSU, Hawai`i advances to tomorrow's semifinal game against the second-seeded Fresno State Bulldogs, who defeated Boise State today, 5-4. Tomorrow's game will be televised on KFVE and on the radio on ESPN 1420 at 2:00 p.m. (10:00 a.m. HST).