The University of Hawaiʻi Softball team may have been swept by UC Davis on Senior Night on Friday, but they had a lot to be proud of with a 30-23 record in 2023.

Despite ending their nine-game home stretch with only two wins and finishing tied for sixth in the Big West standings at 13-14, UH logged the most wins in a season in the past four years. In 2019, they logged 33 wins. While UH could have used a 3-0 sweep against a Big West opponent, they provided a lot of unforgettable moments from the games I attended this season, but at the same time, they did let a game or two slip through their fingers.

After dropping their Mar. 31 game, 4-1, against UC San Diego, Hawaiʻi came storming back to sweep their doubleheader, 2-0, and 3-0. Simultaneously, in game two, while Haley Johnson belted a double home run, Brianna Lopez joined the party with her first career no-hitter. Do not doubt she can pull off that feat again.

A game I felt UH let slip away was their first game against UC Riverside on Apr. 14. Hawaiʻi was up 6-0 after the first five innings, but in the final two innings, they were outscored, 9-1, and saw their lead completely evaporate. Once UC Riverside got on the board with their triple home run, I started to feel slightly concerned, but I was still confident UH would hang on; however, it did not happen due to back-to-back walks and RBIs, and UH walked away the losers, 9-7.

Hawaiʻi was able to hit the reset button and swept their doubleheader against UCR, but the first game did not come easy. After they were up 4-0 after the first two innings, Riverside tied things up after Hawaiʻi went scoreless for the next four innings, and Natalia Witt's solo homer in the seventh put UCR in front, 5-4.
 

McKenna Kostyszyn entered as relieving pitcher, and things started to come together. That started with an Izabella Martinez solo homer in the seventh; had Martinez not done that, there was a good chance UH would have been ruined going into game two. After going to extra innings, Kostyszyn logged her first strikeout to keep UC Riverside scoreless. Xiao Gin won that first game for UH when she slid home following a Maya Nakamura sacrifice fly.

Game two saw a new and improved Hawaiʻi. They uncorked seven runs and held Riverside to a single run; all seven runs came off of home runs -- that included a grand slam from Martinez in the bottom of the fifth. That grand slam was UH's second of the season (Johnson pulled one off at Northridge), but this one put the writing on the wall and UH walked away the winners, 7-1.

If someone were to ask me if hitting a grand slam is harder than pulling off a no-hitter, I'd tell them, "I think they're equally hard -- both setting up and pulling off."

UH softball knows how to make games entertaining to the point where the only thing I'm sorry about is that some of these games are not televised or broadcast on the radio. I said the same thing on social media about UH Water Polo's win over Cal when Bridget Layburn threw that insane goal the whole length of the pool in the second overtime period to win it for UH at the buzzer. Softball was no exception on Thursday, May 11 against UC Davis.

For the first five innings, UC Davis' Anna Dethlefson logged the only run of the game for either team. After Libbie McMahan added a second run for UCD in the sixth inning, Hawaiʻi came alive starting with a Johnson RBI double when it was their turn; Davis committed two costly errors, which allowed Cira Bartolotti to score and win that game for UH, 3-2.

UH is still destined for great things in the future, and were destined for great things this season had they not lost Dallas Millwood to an injury. They may very well have been able to split their doubleheader with UCD had Maya Nakamura played, but oh well. They are ending the year on a slight downer, as second base and shortstop Jadyn Nielsen announced on social media that she is entering the transfer portal.

For now, we wait until the Fall of 2023 for good things to come in all sports.