It wasn't until he reached the parking lot that Hawaii softball coach Bob Coolen thought to ask where the Rainbow Wahine stood in their pursuit of the NCAA home run record.

His attention over the previous 2 hours was locked in on surviving a Western Athletic Conference tournament shootout.

“;It wasn't a thought in my mind,”; Coolen said. “;I just wanted to get separation on San Jose State.”;

Turned out Hawaii tied the record with a six-homer barrage as the Rainbow Wahine overcame three deficits before pulling away to a 16-8 win over the Spartans at the New Mexico State Softball Complex in Las Cruces.

The top-seeded Wahine (42-12) advanced in the winners bracket to face second-seed Fresno State (37-17) today. The game will be televised on KFVE at 10 a.m.

The winner moves on to tomorrow's championship round. The loser will play an elimination game at 3 p.m.

The Wahine closed the regular season six home runs shy of the single-season mark of 134 set by Arizona last year and needed just one game at the WAC tournament to tie the record.

Melissa Gonzalez went deep in her first two at-bats to lead the assault, as the Wahine ended the game in the sixth inning due to the eight-run rule.

While Coolen hadn't been paying much mind to the record, the players were a bit more aware of the chase and they're now poised to become the most prolific home-run-hitting team in NCAA history.

“;That was really exciting because we've had that goal in our heads for a while,”; said Gonzalez, who also doubled twice and drove in a career-high six runs. “;When we broke the school record (84) we said we want the NCAA record.”;

Kanani Pu'u-Warren, Katie Grimes and Alexandra Aguirre also homered and Kelly Majam hit the record-tying blast in the sixth.

UH pitcher Stephanie Ricketts (23-6) will get the ball today after winning her 14th straight decision despite matching season highs with eight runs allowed (five earned) and seven walks over five innings. Kaia Parnaby threw one shutout inning and was credited with the save.

Gonzalez's three-run homer in the first inning of yesterday's game answered SJSU's three-run rally in the top of the inning and her two-run shot gave UH a 5-3 lead in the second.

“;After they scored those three runs we all came into our huddle and said no worries, calm down, we can come back,”; Gonzalez said.

The Spartans reclaimed the lead with four runs in the third, three coming on a Breanna Lopez homer. Pu'u-Warren hit a solo homer in the bottom of the third and Gonzalez tied the game with an RBI double in the fourth.

SJSU again moved ahead 8-7 on BranDee Garcia's RBI single in the fifth. But Grimes led off the bottom of the inning with a homer and Jenna Rodriguez drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single.

The separation Coolen sought came when Aguirre followed with a three-run shot and the Wahine put the game away in the sixth on Majam's 26th homer of the season and Rodriguez' two-run single.

“;At the end of the game we always turn it on,”; Majam said. “;The last couple of innings are our strongest innings.”;