Hawai'i's pitching recorded its first statistical save of the season, but got another that won't show up in the box score in last night's 4-3 win against Southern Illinois in the opening round of the Pepsi Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

Closer Jessica Morton got her first save of the season after bailing out starter Kate Robinson with 1 2/3 perfect innings of relief and left fielder Brandi Peiler made the save of the game with a catch against the left-field fence on a drive by Jayme Wamsley that could have gone for extra bases in the sixth for the 15th-ranked Rainbows (15-4), who also won a previous game, 5-0, against Eastern Kentucky.

The Salukis (10-9) chipped away at UH's early 4-1 lead with a run in the fifth on a solo home run by Katie Wagner. In the sixth, Katie Wilson led off with a line double to left-center against Robinson. Wamsley then drilled a 2-2 offering to deep left, where Peiler had a bead on the fly and caught up against the fence.

"We practice that a lot in practice, taking our eye off the ball," Peiler explained. "I just do what I do in practice.

"I was trying to find the fence to see how much distance I had. Right when I caught it, I was on (against the fence)."

Robinson was thankful.

"I didn't realize the ball was hit that far," Robinson said. "But that's something we do in practice everyday. It was a crucial play. A crucial turning point in the game, I think."

Robinson labored, walking the next two batters to load the bases with one out. That's when UH coach Bob Coolen lifted her for Morton, the closer who had yet to record a save in the team's first 18 games.

Katie Schmidt hit a one-hopper to Robinson, who had moved to first base. But just a little bobble of the grounder forced her to tag the batter, instead of getting a force at home. But Morton struck out Krystal Stein to end the inning and preserve the one-run lead.

She pitched a perfect seventh to notch her first save, a rarity on a staff that had 15 complete games entering their 19th contest of the season.

Morton sounded like a commercial for Major League Baseball.

"I live for that," the senior right-hander said of inheriting Robinson's bases-loaded jam in the sixth. "That's what I've been told my role was since my freshman year. I live for situations like that."

Robinson (6-3) went 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned), four hits and five walks with five strikeouts.

"My pitches for the most part were working," she said. "They're a real aggressive team and every mistake I made, they capitalized on it. I just couldn't get one up on them."

The Salukis took a 1-0 lead off Robinson in the top of the first inning on Wilson's RBI single that scored lead-off batter Stein, who reached first on third baseman Clare Warwick's fielding error.

But the Rainbows jumped on SIU starter Danielle Glosson (1-4) with a pair of runs in each of the first two innings. Peiler's two-out, two-run double came in the first and Tanisha Milca hit a two-run homer to left-center in the second to make it 4-1. That was all Glosson would allow. She gave up four runs on 10 hits while striking out eight.

In the UH's first game, Courtney Baughman (8-1) scattered seven hits and a walk with three strikeouts in her eighth complete game of the season to beat Eastern Kentucky.

Robinson slugged her team-leading seventh home run, while Peiler went 3 for 3. Katie Grimes had two RBIs.

Jenn Bledsoe (1-2) lasted just 2 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits for Eastern Kentucky (9-5). Sheyenne Hussey (Kailua '06, of Waimanalo) went 3 for 3 for the Colonels.

Reach Stacy Kaneshiro at skaneshiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.