Bouncing back from frazzled debuts, freshmen Justine Smethurst and Courtney Baughman yesterday pitched Hawai'i to 2-1 and 6-3 softball victories over Texas State and Loyola Marymount, respectively, at Rainbow Wahine Stadium.

In finishing the round robin 4-1, the Rainbows earned the top seed for today's championship round of the Paradise Classic. Brigham Young, which is administered by the Mormon church, also is 4-1, but it does not play on Sundays.

Smethurst (2-0), who struggled with her control on Thursday, limited Texas State to one unearned run and two hits while striking out five. She received support from Tyleen Tausaga's home run in the fourth and Tanisha Milca's tie-breaking blooper in the sixth.

Tausaga was motivated after being struck by a Bobcat runner while trying to apply a tag on the first-base line. "I was a little mad at that," Tausaga said. "I was like, 'I'm going to get them back.' I got 'em back with the home run."

On Thursday, Milca started in center in place of Kaulana Gould, who missed a practice. Milca has remained at center while Gould moved to left. Of her decisive blooper to deep short, which scored Gould from second, Milca said: "I thought (Alex Newton) caught it. I kind of got jammed on (the pitch), but I did what I could do with it."

Baughman (1-1), who lost to BYU on Friday, spaced eight hits, walked one and struck out six against Loyola Marymount.

She worked out of a bases-filled situation in the third, and made the Lions waste Miasarah Cesina's two-out triple in the fourth. "We talked about how she needs to establish herself, get ahead (in the count) and make her pitches, not just throw the ball over the plate and see what happens," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "She really pitched with conviction."