Tribune-Herald
Tribune-Herald
Top-seeded University of Southern California defeated the fourth-seeded University of Hawaii 16-9 in the 2013 NCAA Women’s Water Polo semifinals Saturday night at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
USC (26-1) ousted UH in three previous meetings in the NCAAs — including twice in the semifinals. The Rainbow Wahine (22-10) scored the first goal of the match before the Trojans responded with seven straight goals to take a commanding lead.
USC advances to today’s final, seeking its third NCAA title. The Trojans will play No. 2 Stanford at noon Hawaii time for the championship.
UH will play in the third-place match against No. 3 UCLA loser today at 9:30 a.m. HST
Softball
Hawaii 9, Pacific 3
UH completed its series sweep with a 9-3 win over Pacific in Big West softball Saturday in Stockton, Calif.
The Rainbow Wahine finished the regular season with a 43-11 record, including 20-4 in winning the Big West crown.
Kaia Parnaby pitched four shutout innings to earn the win against the Tigers. She allowed two hits while striking out three and walking one. The three strikeouts lifted Parnaby past ex-UH All-American Brooke Wilkins as UH’s and the Big West’s single-season record of 324 set in 1994. Parnaby now has 324 on the season along with a Big West record 37 wins.
Freshman Alyssa Villapando had two three-run homers and a career-high six RBIs to lead the UH offense in the season-ending win over Pacific (28-28, 12-12).
UH will remain in Stockton to watch the NCAA tournament selection show today to see where the Rainbow Wahine will play in the national event.
Baseball
Hawaii 5, Long Beach St. 2
Corey MacDonald hurled six strong innings and Stephen Ventimilia drove in two runs to lead the University of Hawaii baseball team to a 4-2 win over Long Beach State on Saturday in Long Beach, Calif.
MacDonald scatterd six hits for the Rainbow Warriors (12-32 overall, 7-13 Big West) and allowed only one run while picking up the victory. He struck out eight and walked one. Lawrence Chew took over in the seventh and finished.
Marc Flores went 3 for 4 with an RBI to spark UH’s seven-hit attack. No one else paired hits.
Jeff McNeil had three hits to lead Long Beach State and teammate Juan Avila added two hits.
Jake Stassi started for the 49ers (23-25, 10-10) and gave up four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He took the loss.