UH’s Titcomb shows the power this time
Kate Robinson has become an expected source of power for the Hawaii softball team.
Richie Anne Titcomb, not so much.
But both went deep yesterday to break open a tight game with Long Beach State and lift the 16th-ranked Rainbow Wahine to a 6-1 win to advance to the championship round of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic.
With the game tied 1-1 after five, Robinson led off the sixth by hammering a shot to left center to put Hawaii ahead. After two outs followed by two walks, Titcomb -- UH's 5-foot-4 ninth-place hitter -- lined a three-run shot over the left-field fence to pad the lead.
"A lot of people underestimate me because I'm small, I guess, but it felt really good to hit one," said Titcomb, who had two homers last season.
The Wahine (5-0) will play either Long Beach State or Central Florida for the tournament title at 2 p.m. today. If UH loses, there'll be another game at 4.
UH raised its season home run total to eight with four more bombs in two games yesterday.
Julie Franklin and Katie Grimes hit their first homers of the season in a 6-0 win over Kentucky, with Robinson striking out six in earning her second pitching win of the season.
Courtney Baughman then picked up a complete-game win against LBSU. After giving up a homer in the first inning, she surrendered just three hits the rest of the way and retired the last 10 49ers in order, striking out three in that stretch.
"I felt like I got more loose," Baughman said of her late-game groove. "I'm just excited everyone's doing so well. The hitting is on it and the defense is good."
While home runs haven't been that common for Titcomb in her career, her teammates weren't all that surprised by her shot.
"She was seeing the ball well today and we were all like, 'this could be dangerous,' " Baughman said. "She hit a bomb."