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Hawaiʻi softball splits two-game series with Cal Poly

Wāhine softball gets one win over Cal Poly amid several rain delays

One is better than none.

Despite several rain delays, the Hawaiʻi Softball team split their two-game series with the Cal Poly Mustangs at Rainbow Wāhine Softball Stadium in a 3-2 win in game one and losing game two, 6-5, on Saturday.

Game #1: 3-2, UH (4/5/24)

On Friday, despite overcast conditions, UH and Cal Poly still swung the bats. Cal Poly's Jessica Clements began the game with a solo home run to put the Mustangs on the board in the top of the first, but UH would answer back.

After coming up empty when it was their turn, Hawaiʻi's Maycen Gibbs came to the rescue in the second. After Chloe Borges got hit by a pitch, and Cal Poly walked Mya'Liah Bethea, Gibbs used a sacrifice bunt to get to first base and reached second base on a throwing error; fortunately, both Borges and Bethea were able to score to make it 2-1 UH.

Gameplay was halted after that due to inclement weather, and the Friday evening game was to be concluded on Saturday afternoon.

When Saturday came, UH added their final game run via a Maya Nakamura solo home run to make it 3-1, UH. It was Nakamura's seventh home run of the season.

"I had a very unproductive at bat," Nakamura said before the home run.

Cal Poly's Clements would blast another solo home run in the sixth to make it 3-2 UH; unfortunately, that was the closest the Mustangs would get.

Game #2: 6-5, Cal Poly (4/6/24)

Cal Poly sought revenge to split the series, even through three rain delays. After a scoreless first inning, Kai Barrett blasted a double home run to put Cal Poly on the board in the second inning.

UH's Nakamura took a fall in the first inning and left due to an injury. She did not return and was replaced by Madixx Muramoto.

In the third, Muramoto whacked a triple home run over left field to drive in Bethea and Kaʻena Keliinoi. That put UH on the board and in the lead, 3-2. It was Muramoto's first career home run as a Rainbow Wāhine.

"She came in and stepped up, so nothing can make us more happy than that," Xiao Gin said of Muramoto's home run.

For UH, that lead was short-lived, as Cal Poly put up four runs in the fourth to retake control. UH would change pitchers from Key-Annah Campbell-Pua to Borges. After Cal Poly loaded the bases, UH got out of a jam via a line out to second on Cal Poly's Barrett, but the damage was done.

"It was a little chaotic out there on the field," Gin said of that fourth inning.

Gin was 1-for-7 at the plate overall. She went 1-for-3 in the first game, and 0-for-4 in the second.

Hawaiʻi tried to rally with two quick outs in the fifth. After Izabella Martinez was walked, and Haley Johnson belted an opposite-field double, Dallas Millwood came to the rescue. Millwood juiced an RBI single that was enough to drive in pinch runners Kayla Tierney and Piper Neri to cut the gap to one, 6-5.

Unfortunately, that Millwood two-run RBI single was the closest UH could get.

"Both teams really competed, and those are the fun games," Gin said of the two games overall.

Cal Poly improves to 19-12 overall and sits third at 8-3 in the Big West standings.

Hawaiʻi drops to 13-18 overall and sits fourth in the Big West Standings at 6-4.

UH will head to UC Riverside for a three-game series, starting with a doubleheader on Friday, Apr. 12, at 10 a.m. HST and 12:30 p.m. HST, and in a single game on Saturday, Apr. 13 at 9 a.m. HST.

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