Meagan Bond's grand debut spoiled the start of Hawaii's season.

The McNeese State freshman right-hander frustrated the Rainbow Wahine in the Cowgirls' 2-1 win last night at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

Bond struck out 11 in her introduction to college softball and stranded seven runners on base to open the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic with a win over the host team.

“;I was little nervous coming in,”; Bond said. “;But I think a little nervousness is always good.”;

While Bond cited her curveball as her “;go-to”; pitch, Rainbow Wahine head coach Bob Coolen pointed to the inability to adjust to her riser as a key in UH's season-opening defeat.

“;We were swinging right through it, we weren't seeing the ball early enough,”; Coolen said. “;If we're going to chase it, we have to hit it early. If we don't, we're going to go down to every riseball pitcher we face.

“;I likened it to deers in the headlights all night,”; he added. “;We were just not hitting the ball after they've been pounding the ball (in practice). ... We just weren't getting the timely hit. There was no pressure on them to make plays.”;

A spell of shaky defense to open the game contributed to McNeese State taking the lead in the top of the first as Hawaii sophomore Stephanie Ricketts (0-1) struggled with her command in giving up a career-high seven walks against five strikeouts.

“;We're going to face a lot of teams that are really intense like that one was, so we just have to react better than that,”; Ricketts said “;It's a good learning experience.”;

McNeese State gave Bond a cushion before she entered the circle. Leadoff hitter Claire Terracina reached on an infield single to open the game and was sacrificed to second. Molly Guidry's sharp grounder then got through UH shortstop Jessica Iwata and skipped past left fielder Jenna Rodriguez, allowing Terracina to score.

The Cowgirls took a 2-0 lead on ninth-place hitter Dani Price's two-out RBI double off the left-field fence in the fourth.

UH answered in the bottom of the inning when Katie Grimes' two-out infield single off the glove of second baseman Marissa Koetting allowed pinch runner Brynne Buchanan to bring the Wahine back within a run.

UH put the tying run on base in the fifth and sixth with less than two out, but couldn't cash in against Bond.

“;We knew it was going to be tough,”; said McNeese State coach Natalie Poole, who led the Cowgirls to a second-place finish in the Southland Conference last year. “;Hawaii has a great team and one of the things we talked about was getting tougher as the game went on and Meagan showed a lot of stability and I really like to see that out of a freshman.”;

The Paradise Classic continues today with four games starting at 1 p.m. UH plays Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5 p.m., and No. 10 Stanford at 7 p.m.

Freshman Kaia Parnaby is scheduled to start for UH in the opener with either Ricketts or Jenna Rodriguez to face Stanford.