The University of Hawaiʻi Wāhine Softball team tried hard, but they were ultimately turned back by the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos, 5-2, at Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium on Friday.

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Santa Barbara hit the ground running with a run in the first inning by Madelyn McNally. The Gauchos scored one run in five of the seven innings while UH had trouble buying a run until the fifth inning. Santa Barbara ultimately came up empty in the second and sixth innings.

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UH finally got on the board via a Mya'Liah Bethea home run in the fifth inning to make it 4-1 UCSB. UH had a chance to potentially take the lead when they filled all three bases in that sixth inning. All they needed was a home run from someone to uncork a grand slam and upset UCSB's apple cart; unfortunately, they could not take advantage of things, and nobody scored.

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UCSB added an RBI via Daryn Siegel to make it 5-1 in favor of UCSB. UH got a second homer via Chloe Borges, but that was the last score of the game.

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UH and UCSB will return on Saturday, Mar. 18 in a doubleheader at 2 pm HST and 4 pm HST at Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium.