UH tops Nevada to stand alone atop WAC standings
By Stacy Kaneshiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
After surviving lightning Thursday and rain Friday, the University of Hawai'i softball team got help from the Golden Hurricane yesterday.
The Rainbow Wahine completed a Western Athletic Conference series sweep of Nevada, 5-1 and 2-1, yesterday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. With Tulsa's 1-0 and 4-1 sweep of Fresno State, Hawai'i (25-16 overall) gained sole possession of first place in the WAC at 6-2.
"It's so great," said Shannon Tabion, UH's winning pitcher of the second game. "It's where we should be."
It was a big day for individual Rainbows, too.
Junior first baseman Stacey Porter whacked her 30th career home run — her team-leading ninth of the season — surpassing Dana Degen's 29 to become the school's all-time leader.
"It felt good coming off the bat, but I was just trying to make contact because I hadn't had a hit (before that) today," Porter said of her homer to right-center.
Her blast came in the second game in UH's two-run third after Tracie Uchima led off with a triple and scored on Denise Dahlberg's sacrifice fly to left off Nevada starter Judith van Kampen (6-7).
Tabion (5-6) made those runs stand as she pitched a two-hitter, but one of those hits was a solo home run by pinch hitter Kari Stockstill with two out in the seventh to spoil Tabion's first shutout bid. Tabion said she left the pitch too low for Stockstill.
"Right before the pitch I said, 'Get it up,' " Tabion said. "If I don't get it up, she's going to hit it over. And I didn't get it up and she hit it over."
Still, Tabion had seven strikeouts and did not allow more than one runner in each inning.
"I was so close in getting a shutout," she said with a laugh.
In the opener, Melissa Coogan (19-9) allowed a run on four hits and a walk while matching a season-high eight strikeouts. It was her third win of the series; she won both ends of a doubleheader Friday.
"I felt strong until the end of the game," Coogan said. "It was definitely showing that I had pitched two games the night before. But I still felt pretty strong."
She allowed a sixth-inning lead-off double to Stacy Mueller, but ended up retiring the next six batters in a row.
Coogan allowed more than one base runner in an inning once. That was in the third, when the Wolf Pack scored their only run on a line single off third baseman Trisha Ramos' glove by Mueller, who had three of Nevada's four hits.
Coogan pitched three innings Thursday before the series opener was suspended because of lightning. She then completed the game Friday with four innings and pitched a complete game in the nightcap.
Uchima was 2-for-3 with a double, run and RBI and Ramos also was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI against Nevada starter Candice Rainwater (5-8), who lasted 2 1/3 innings.
Before their doubleheader, the Rainbow Wahine were aware of Tulsa's sweep of five-time defending conference champion Fresno State, the preseason favorite to win the WAC.
"It was good to know before we started that Fresno lost those two games," Coogan said. "It was definitely good to hear."
Hawai'i is one game ahead of Tulsa and Louisiana Tech, both 4-2. Fresno State is fourth at 4-4, while San Jose State is fifth at 3-5 and Nevada (17-24) is sixth at 1-7.
The Rainbow Wahine have a golden opportunity to put space between them and Golden Hurricane. Tulsa will play doubleheaders here Thursday and Saturday.
"I think we're going to keep playing like we did this weekend," Coogan said.
