Hawaii softball coach Bob Coolen could sense the tension building throughout the day as he sat around contemplating the start of the conference season.

The Rainbow Wahine would make him wait quite a bit longer before he could breathe easy.

Hawaii opened the Western Athletic Conference schedule with its longest game of the season, pulling out a 3-2 win over San Jose State in 10 innings last night at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

“;It was unreal,”; Coolen said. “;I never lost my butterflies the whole game. It was there the whole night.

Sophomore pitcher Stephanie Ricketts (10-6) worked out of trouble throughout the night and Kanani Pu'u-Warren scored the winning run on Kelly Majam's grounder to second in the bottom of the 10th.

Pu'u-Warren and Katie Grimes, the eighth and ninth hitters in the lineup, led off the 10th with singles off of SJSU ace Amanda Pridmore (11-1). Majam then hit a grounder to second baseman Julianne Aiello, who tagged Grimes out, but Pu'u-Warren scored without a throw.

“;(Coolen) had noticed that in their defense, the second baseman played back and if it was hit on the ground to second you are gone,”; Pu'u-Warren said.

“;Kelly, freshman that she is, she executes so well under pressure, and she did it. She got it over to the right side and I scored easily.”;

Ricketts threw 168 pitches and stranded 10 SJSU runners, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth in her longest outing since throwing 12 1/3 in a 16-inning win at Fresno State last season. She struck out six and earned the win despite seven walks and three UH errors.

“;That was pretty intense,”; Ricketts said. “;I probably put myself into too many situations with walks to lead off, but we came out with the win, so that's all that matters.

“;Katie's great. She kept coming out and being like, 'OK, you're fine, let's get this one,' and that helped me a lot.”;

The Spartans scored the game's first run in a controversial top of the third. With one out, Morgan Otto reached on a walk and Sarah Taylor followed with a grounder to short. Otto was initially called out on a close play at second as UH second baseman Traci Yoshikawa had to stretch for the throw. After a conference, the umpires reversed the call, bringing Coolen out of the dugout.

The revised call stood and Alyssa Sulay reached on an error to load the bases and Otto scored on Kelli Fangonilo's groundout to second.

Pridmore limited the Wahine to three singles through five innings before UH broke through in the sixth. Pu'u-Warren was hit to start the rally and Grimes singled into right. After Pridmore struck out Majam, Jessica Iwata lined a double into the left-center gap to score both runners and give UH its first lead.

But Ricketts walked Breanna Lopez to lead off the seventh. One out later, pinch runner Markesha Collins moved to second on a groundout. Taylor then hit a shot down the third-base line and Collins came around with the tying run.

Both Ricketts and Pridmore escaped jams in the ninth. Ricketts got defensive help from left-fielder Alexandra Aguirre, who threw Natasha Hawkins out at the plate in keeping the game tied in the top of the inning. Pridmore extended the game despite UH putting a runner on third with no outs in the bottom half.

But UH came through in the 10th as Majam's grounder was just enough to give UH the win.

The Wahine (23-11, 1-0) close their month-long homestand with a doubleheader with the Spartans (23-9, 0-1) today starting at 4 p.m.

Yesterday
Hawaii 3, San Jose State 2 (10)
Fresno State 4, Nevada 0
Louisiana Tech 6, Utah State 4
Today
San Jose State at Hawaii (2), 4 p.m., at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
Utah State at Louisiana Tech (2)
Fresno State at Nevada (2)
New Mexico State at Boise State (2)
Tomorrow
New Mexico State at Boise State