The Hawaii softball team’s first sweep of a conference road series in six years has the Rainbow Wahine in strong position to make the inaugural Big West tournament.

UH took both games of Saturday’s doubleheader at the Roadrunner Softball Complex from host Cal State Bakersfield in Bakersfield, Calif., 8-5 and 8-6, and holds sole possession of third place with three Big West series remaining.

The top six of 10 teams will play in the first BWC championship event at Cal State Fullerton in May.

The Rainbow Wahine (25-14, 11-6 BWC) host conference leader UC Santa Barbara (24-17, 13-4) at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium on Friday and Saturday.

UH swept its first Big West series, home or away, since facing Bakersfield at home last April. Its five-game conference winning streak is the program’s longest since 2022.

The last time UH swept a conference road series was at Cal Poly in 2019.

Center fielder Chloe Borges led the way at the plate for the CSUB series, going 4-for-5 with a .909 on-base percentage for reaching safely in 10 of 11 plate appearances. She scored four runs with a double, two homers and three RBIs.

Meanwhile, Macy Brandl (12-5) was UH’s champion in the circle with two wins and a save in the series. CSUB (15-26, 6-12) did not scratch a run across for the first 10 of 14 innings she threw.

Building on Friday’s mercy-shortened 9-0 victory, the Wahine rallied from a four-run hole in Saturday’s first game, scoring all of their runs in the last three innings as Millie Fidge picked up the win in relief of Addison Kostrencich. Brandl worked the last two innings with one hit allowed for the save.

 In the finale, UH plated five in the opening frame and seven through four innings, then held on as the Roadrunners scored six unanswered across two innings, with Kaia Johnson’s three-run blast getting CSUB within 7-6 in the fifth.

Jamie McGaughey answered with a solo shot in the top of the sixth, her team-leading 10^th of the season.

Brandl elicited three flyouts in the bottom of the sixth. After Maya Molina-Villare hit a one-out triple in the seventh and Johnson followed with a walk, Brandl got Marianna Narvaiz to line to shortstop Milan Ah Yat, who fired it to McGaughey at first for the game-ending double play.

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.