Keep the lights on for the University of Hawai'i softball team.

After yesterday's 12-4 victory over San Jose State, the party is not over. The Rainbow Wahine remain alive and, well, still in contention in the Western Athletic Conference tournament on their home field.

After his team, which already lost once in the double-elimination tournament, fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, UH coach Bob Coolen, admittedly "had my speech going. It was 'out in two and barbecue. We're done.' But we came back, and we live another day, and the host team is still around on Friday."

The Rainbows, who improved to 34-18, will play Fresno State at 4:30 today. If they win, they will play in the 7 p.m. game.

Who would have thunk it?

Not season-long followers, who had watched the Rainbows struggle to overcome deficits this season.

Not the softball mathematicians, who had noted that Courtney Baughman's injury and Melissa Gonzalez's inexperience reduced the Rainbows' pitching staff to two — Kate Robinson, who was chased after two-thirds of an inning yesterday, and hard-throwing Jessica Morton.

But after yielding a bases-loaded walk to the first batter she faced, Morton did not allow another run in the final 6 1/3 innings.

And the Rainbows rallied for a run in the second, three in the third and six in the fifth to move out of reach.

Audrey Andrade, who had difficulty at the plate entering the tournament, went 3 for 3 with three RBIs.

"Finally!" she yelled after the game. "I told myself, 'Go out there, see it, and hit it.' That's all I was saying. It's as simple as that sometimes."

Catcher Katie Grimes, who added two hits and drove in a run, said: "It was a good comeback. We needed something like that to get some fire in us. We've been a little flat. It was good to show that we can pull it out."

Once again, the Rainbows turned to Robinson, their lone starting pitcher. She entered the game having pitched 20 2/3 innings in the previous five days. Last night's stint would be considerably shorter — almost as short, she insisted, as the shrinking strike zone.

The Spartans, who were designated as the home team, used four hits, two walks and a passed ball to oust Robinson.

The Rainbows believed that home-plate umpire Paul Edds placed a belt-high ceiling on the strike zone.

"When the umpire is squeezing the zone, I get out of rhythm," Robinson said. "It's like, where do you throw the ball? You have to bring it more in and more in (to the strike zone). And that's where the batters hit. It's tough."

Morton, who prefers the relief pitcher's role, was summoned.

"That might have been the toughest situation I could have went in," Morton said. "Usually I come in with a runner on third, maybe two outs, one out. This time it was bases loaded, and the umpire squeezing the strike zone so tight. Then I walked the first batter."

That led to another animated speech from Coolen.

"We have to adjust," Coolen said. "That's what I went out and told them. I said, 'You don't have to worry about the strike zone. You know what it is now. Don't worry about his strike zone. Go after what he's established.' "

Morton, who has a speedy riser and biting curve, went exclusively with drop pitches. She followed Coolen's directive: no pitch above a batter's knees.

"Go upstairs if you want to waste a pitch," Coolen told Morton. "But don't go there to try to get a strike."

Morton's drop pitches have more of a break when she shortens her step and shifts her weight forward.

"She did a good job," Grimes said. "Coach Bob made sure we threw the umpire's strikes and not the pitcher's strikes."

Morton also entered refreshed. In most games, she usually begins warming up midway through the first inning. This time, she went to the bullpen when Robinson went to the mound.

"I was a little more prepared," Morton said.

The UH hitters also adjusted to both the strike zone and Spartan starter Deanna Mauer's change-ups, which she seemed to throw every other pitch.

For instance, Andrade said, "I was telling myself to be patient and stay back."

Coolen said: "They made the adjustments. (Mauer) was throwing low, and she was hitting the outside corner. We finally went with the pitch. That was the key."

The Rainbows had seven opposite-field line drives.

"All season," said Robinson, who moved to first base in the first inning, "we've seen the outside pitch, and watched it. It's not a hard pitch to hit. You won't hit it over the fence, but you'll put it in holes, and that's how you make things happen."

Eight of the nine UH starting batters had at least one hit.

The biggest offensive output in weeks came at the right time.

Even after falling behind 4-0, Andrade said, the Rainbows remained confident.

"There's no way we were going to lose," Andrade recalled thinking. "We're not done. This isn't the end of our season. We have much longer go."

Visit Tsai's blog at http://warriorbeat.honadvblogs.com.