The Rainbow Wāhine Softball team used the loss of Maya Nakamura as inspiration and took two wins out of three at UC Riverside's Amy S. Harrison Field splitting Friday's doubleheader and winning the lone game on Saturday. On Friday, they won game one, 8-5, and lost game two, 7-5; on Saturday, UH would win the series, 4-2.

Doubleheader Game #1: 8-5 UH (4/12/24)

UC Riverside jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after the first two innings. That started with a Rebeca Cabezas RBI single that drove in Lauryn Garewal and Nadia Witt; Bella Scozzola would use a sacrifice fly that drove in Jackie Alday to make it 3-0 UCR. UCR would add another run in the second via Gigi Araki to make it a 4-0 lead.

After a scoreless third inning, it was all UH from the fourth inning on. UCR could only muster up one run from Kat Montuya in the fifth inning.

Chloe Borges got the 'Bows on the board with an RBI double to right center to drive in pinch runner Piper Neri to cut UH's deficit to three.

The 'Bows did most of their damage in the fourth inning with four runs scored, which started with a Mya'liah Bethea solo home run. They then loaded the bases when Dallas Millwood delivered an RBI walk to drive in Kaʻena Keliinoi. A Borges RBI single came next, which drove in Larissa Goshi and Keely Kai, and UH found themselves in the lead, 5-4.

UH was not done there. Izabella Martinez got in the spirit with a two-run RBI double that drove in Keliinoi and Xiao Gin in the sixth. Bethea put the bow on the package with her second solo home run in the seventh for the final arithmetic.

Doubleheader Game #2: 7-5 UCR (4/12/24)

Hawaiʻi put up five runs alone in the first inning. That began with a Millwood RBI single that drove in Gin. Then, Borges uncorked her first career grand slam which drove in Millwood, Haley Johnson, and Martinez. UH led 5-0 immediately in the first inning, but they would never score again.

From the second inning on, UCR seized control. They outscored UH 7-0 from that point on. That included five runs alone in the fourth inning.

UCR's Elise Nishimura belted an RBI single to drive in Jackie Alday for the final arithmetic and even up the series.

Game #3: 4-2 UH (4/13/24)

On Saturday, UH had full expectations to seize the third and final game of the series.

After two scoreless innings, UCR logged the game's first two runs. That started with Kamryn Davis, who scored on a wild pitch in the third. Witt would score on an Alday sacrifice fly to right field to make it 2-0 UCR.

UH answered back in the next two innings.

In the fourth, Keliinoi scored after Millwood made it to second on a UCR fielding error. That was followed by a Borges RBI single that drove in Millwood, which tied the score at 2-2.

The fifth inning was the turning point. A Keliinoi RBI single up the middle drove in Madixx Muramoto, and UH saw its first lead, 3-2. Martinez then belted a sacrifice fly to left field which was enough to drive in Gin for the game's final score.

The two wins improved UH to 8-5 in the Big West Standings and 15-19 overall while UCR dropped to 6-9 in the Big West, and 12-23 overall.

UH will return to Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium on Friday, Apr. 19 at 6 p.m. HST to begin a three-game series against the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners. That's followed by a doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 20 at 2 p.m. HST and 4 p.m. HST.