Rainbow Wahine softball gets through gauntlet alive

It was a grueling 11 days and 12 games.

The Hawaii softball team survived that gauntlet — its last competition before Big West play begins — by going 7-5, thereby completing its nonconference slate at 19-9.

Two of the losses were to No. 4 Alabama, one was a one-run defeat to Utah and one came at the hands of Cal ace Kamalani Dung. The last was to SIU-Edwardsville, a team with three local players from which UH took two of three games.

On Saturday, UH ended the busy stretch by topping Niagara 3-1 in a noon game, followed by a 6-2 loss to the Crimson Tide. Sixth-year senior Brittany Hitchcock (8-5) worked both games, while third baseman Nicole Lopez launched two homers in the Niagara game to leapfrog Callee Heen for the team lead at 10. Alyssa Sojka had a two-run shot against ‘Bama in the second game.

Here’s #HawaiiSB third baseman Nicole Lopez on getting through a marathon stretch of nonconference games, including a doubleheader split with Niagara (3-1 W) and No. 4 Alabama (6-2 L) today.

Lopez has a team-high 10 home runs for UH (19-9). pic.twitter.com/Vlz1oQ8CXA

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) March 17, 2019

“I think they were resilient. I think some of the kids that didn’t play a lot came in and gave us a bit of a spark,” coach Bob Coolen said of his players after the doubleheader. “Some of the starters were getting a little tired. The 3-1 ballgame early, I knew I had to go to Britt because she just wanted the ball. She didn’t want that first game be an ‘if’ game. She wanted to win that first game and take that game into the second game. She pitched a great first game to get us out of that game. And I thought she pitched a decent game against Alabama.”

Only two of Hitchcock’s six runs allowed were earned in that one. She gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out two.

Coolen gave props to the Tide’s 1-2 pitching combination of Montana Fouts and Sarah Cornell.

UH surprised Alabama a bit with Sojka’s shot over the left-field fence in the sixth inning, cutting it to 5-2 (the game Friday night was over at that point, a 9-0 Tide romp in five). It was the senior second baseman’s second homer of the season and fourth career.

After the unbeaten Tide (31-0) earned a little cushion with a run in the top of the seventh, UH made it interesting with a one-out single by Mikaela Gandia-Mak, and Madison Veldman reached on an error with two outs. Gandia-Mak stole third and Jennifer Iseri came to the plate. The senior reserve made contact and for a second, it appeared UH had something going.

UH gets two on in the seventh, but Jennifer Iseri flies out to right and No. 4 Alabama (31-0) beats #HawaiiSB (19-9) by a final of 6-2.

UH splits on the day after beating Niagara 3-1 pic.twitter.com/kxSE40PPQO

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) March 17, 2019

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Against the Purple Eagles of Niagara, Hitchcock came on in relief of freshman Izzy Dino to pick up the win, throwing the final 3 2/3 innings.

It was a rough trip to the islands for Niagara, which made its season debut out here. The Eagles went 1-12 here across two UH tournaments, with the lone win against SIUE.

Brittany Hitchcock finishes off a 3-1 win over Niagara for #HawaiiSB.

Nicole Lopez 2 HR, 3 RBIs for Wahine.

Rematch with No. 4 Alabama up next. pic.twitter.com/DaKQa5VP47

— Hawaii Warrior World (@hawaiiwworld) March 16, 2019

Big West play doesn’t begin until March 29 against Long Beach State at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The team will use the time in between to rest and review.

“We need to refresh,” Coolen said. “My No. 2 pitcher, Izzy Dino, is in the clubhouse with a headache. She couldn’t come back out for the second game. And then the collision we had (against Alabama), a bloody nose like a football play. (Left fielder) Bree Soma got a bloody nose, got hit by Cheeks (Ramos at shortstop), both going for a popup, a collision. She’s OK, nothing broken. Just a little pop in the nose.

“We’ll be able to take care of our little tweaks and sprains and strains. Especially tiredness, and just talk about (this last stretch).”

This time last year, UH was 16-13. Over these last two weeks, there was no true signature win, but prior to that UH managed to beat Fresno State 8-7 on Feb. 9. That’s probably the season’s signature win to this point; the Bulldogs are 14-9.

Coolen thinks he got what he wanted out of the nonconference schedule.

“Definitely,” he said. “We found out we have a No. 1 and 2 pitcher combination, which is what we needed. We need a little more relief, by Emily (Klee) did a good job on the road in Vegas. We can hit the ball, we can hit it for distance. We just gotta string ’em together. And we can score runs, which is what we want to do. Sometimes we were a little flat and didn’t get a lot of runs, but get enough runs to get the W. So, I just have to be pleased with that.”