ST. JOSEPH, Mo. » Hawaii Pacific University's 3-1 victory last night over Wayne State (Mich.) in the first game of the NCAA Division II Softball Championship at Heritage Park might have seen its shaky moments. But it wasn't any more drama-filled than the 27-hour travel odyssey the Sea Warriors endured.

The Sea Warriors (47-8) remain in the winners bracket and will play Angelo State (49-13) today at 1:30 p.m. Hawaii time.

“;We didn't know anything about them,”; said Sea Warriors second-year head coach Bryan Nakasone. “;We knew they had a good pitcher (Casey Hanes) with 355 strikeouts. We anticipated that she would have some sort of movement on the ball, especially a riseball. But she came with a changeup and that caught us off-balance for the first few innings. We made our adjustments after that.”;

The door opener was provided by one of HPU's laconic freshmen, Caira Pires, who began the bottom of the third by striking out, but reached first safely on a wild pitch. Breanne Patton followed with a single, then freshman Chante Tesoro sacrificed the runners to second and third. With two outs, senior Casey Sugihara blooped a single to left to score both runs.

“;It was good first win for us. We traveled far and worked really hard to get here. Just knowing we can compete with the rest of the teams here, we proved a lot to ourselves,”; said Sugihara, one of only three senior starters in the Sea Warriors lineup.

Now, about that travel.

When HPU gathered Monday afternoon at the airport in Honolulu, the team was delayed 6 hours there by a mechanical problem on the departing flight. By the time the flight reached Minneapolis, the traveling party of 23 had missed all of its connections. After several hours of waiting in Minneapolis, the HPU group was delayed further when thunderstorms moved through Minnesota.

The Sea Warriors didn't arrive in St. Joseph until Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., and Wednesday wasn't really a day of rest because of organized clinics, practice and the evening banquet. HPU's saving grace was a late afternoon start on the first day of the championship. Was Nakasone concerned about fatigue from travel?

“;Initially, you would think so,”; he said. “;But we preach a lot of mental toughness on our team. And our talk to the players was, 'Hey, maybe we got all of the adversities and all the challenges were met. Just go out and have fun now.' “;

It didn't seem to bother Pacific West Conference Pitcher of the Year Sherise Musquiz, who yesterday was named to the 2010 Daktronics Softball All-America first team. Her only blemish was an unearned run in the seventh. In her methodical three-hitter, Musquiz didn't strike out a hitter. But by changing speeds, she kept the hitters off-balance.

“;We let their pitcher set the tone a little bit,”; said Wayne State coach Gary Bryce. “;Later on in the game, she threw it inside and we didn't make any adjustments. We kept beating the ball to the third baseman or the shortstop.”;

Wayne State's only serious threat occurred in the seventh when Pires committed a throwing error while attempting to get the lead runner on a fielder's choice. Her throw went into right field. Then Tesoro, the right fielder, threw it away and allowed Stephanie LeClair to score the Warriors' only run.

The Sea Warriors settled down to nail the final out. Even better, they seem to be settled in at their St. Joseph surroundings and hoping to stay a few days longer.