Blog: Rainbow Wahine head to World Series, ‘Bows baseball looks to do the same

I’m not sure if many of you have been keeping up with local sports because of the major hype on the NBA playoffs, but for those that have, you know exactly what’s going on and that’s UH softball and baseball.

This past weekend the Rainbow Wahine shocked a packed house at the Alabama Sports Complex, as the overload of fans cheering for the Crimson Tide watched their number-one ranked home team be denied a World Series championship birth. Jenna Rodriguez and the rest of the UH team watch her ball sail through the air as she hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh, with two outs, runner on first base, and down 3-4.  Her ball flew out of the park almost hitting the foul pole but called fair, upsetting host Alabama (59-11) and winning the series 2-1 advancing the ‘bows to the NCAAA Division I Women’s College World Series for the first time in school history. 

The game was televised on ESPN as people at home, as well as a handful of fans that made the long trip to Alabama, got to see the biggest game in Rainbow Wahine softball history. The team’s 20-day road trip will continue as 16th-seeded UH (49-14) will travel to Oklahoma City to open the tournament against ninth-seeded Missouri on Thursday at 7:00 a.m. Hawaii time. 

On the men’s side, the Rainbows are also trying to make a name in college baseball history, as they are set to play San Diego in a four-team regional in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championships. UH (33-26), the only Western Athletic Conference team in the NCAA tournament, was able to advance after beating four-time defending WAC champion Fresno State, 9-6, capturing their first WAC title since 1992. The regional series will be played at Tempe, Arizona where host and number-one seeded Arizona State will take on Milwaukee. If Hawaii wins in their regional, they’ll join the other 15 regional winners to advance to the super regionals, with the eight remaining teams earning trips to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska on June 19.

That’s it for now. Don’t forget to go for a run, swim, hike, play a pick-up game or just get out of your office, if you have one. Enjoy Hawaii and being healthy!