Addison Kostrencich went inning for inning against her told team and throw for throw against her former teammate on Friday night.
Hawaii’s right-hander did just about everything except come away with the win in the Rainbow Wahine’s 2-1 loss at Long Beach State to open their three-game series.
Kostrencich, a redshirt junior from Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., spent three seasons at LBSU before transferring within the Big West to UH for a larger opportunity this season. She has gotten it, emerging as UH’s unexpected ace in the wake of Brianna Lopez’s transfer to Ole Miss last fall and starting twice per weekend.
Kostrencich (11-7) tossed a five-hitter with four strikeouts against two walks, while Beach ace Sophia Fernandez (11-11) had a similar line of five hits, six strikeouts and two walks. Fernandez was an All-Big West second-teamer last year while Kostrencich made just one appearance, throwing two-thirds of an inning in 2023.
LBSU (20-26, 15-4) moved within a half-game of idle Cal State Fullerton (15-3) for the conference lead while fourth-place UH (18-20, 11-6) fell three back in the loss column.
The difference was the third inning, as the Beach got a two-out double from Makayla Medellin.
UH opened the fifth with three straight singles from Madixx Muramoto, Cierra Yamamoto and Xiao Gin. But UH managed only a sacrifice fly by Izzy Martinez as Ka‘ena Keliinoi flied out and Haley Johnson hit into a fielder’s choice.
Muramoto, a freshman out of Kalani High who has stepped into the regular second baseman job since Maya Nakamura went down for the season with a knee injury, recorded her first multi-hit game (2-for-3) and raised her batting average to .320.
The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. Hawaii time Saturday.
