Hawai'i squandered a four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning en route to a 6-5 loss to No. 19 Louisiana State in nine innings in the third-place game of the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic yesterday.

No. 10 Oklahoma took the title with a 13-1 win against Alabama-Birmingham (2-3) last night in a game called after five innings because of the eight-run mercy rule. The Sooners (4-1) advanced to the title game by smoking UH (1-4), 14-0, in five innings earlier in the day.

Hawai'i's only win of the four-team tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium was against Oklahoma.

"We weren't physically ready," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "Some of the girls were saying their legs were tired. We're not ready after all the working out we've done. We were not ready for five games and all that intensity, so some kids did cower to the pressure. Those were the younger kids and that has to be out of there, get rid of that notion that we're not as capable because we already beat the sixth-ranked team — a top-10 ranked team — in the country."

(The Sooners are 10th in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll and sixth by www.ESPN.com.)

Hawai'i starter Courtney Baughman (1-2) gave up a lead-off homer to Kirsten Shortridge in the bottom of the first before settling down, retiring 11 in a row at one juncture. But with UH ahead, 5-1, in the bottom of the seventh, Baughman gave up successive doubles to pull LSU to 5-2 before getting the next two batters on successive groundouts to third baseman Clare Warwick.

Pinch-hitter Katie Hamilton singled to put runners at the corners. The game appeared over when Shortridge hit a bouncer to shortstop Julie Franklin, who bypassed an easy force at second by throwing low and wide to first and pulled first baseman Amanda Tauali'i off the bag, allowing a run to score and putting runners at first and second.

Ashley Applegate flared a single to left and Jessica Mouse beat the throw home. As the ball got away from catcher Katie Grimes, Shortridge scored the tying run to force extra innings.

In the top of the ninth, with the automatic base runner, Richie-Anne Titcomb, at second to start the frame as part of the international tie-breaking rule, Warwick was intentionally walked and Melissa Gonzalez singled to center. But Titcomb was thrown out at home, blocked by catcher Morgan Russell.

In the bottom of the ninth against a tiring Baughman, Courtney Hollier walked on four pitches after bunting the first two pitches foul. Mouse's sacrifice advanced Hollier and Russell, the automatic base runner. But Baughman also walked Shortridge and Applegate on eight consecutive pitches to load the bases and force in the game-winning run.

Coolen visited Baughman between walks, but she didn't reveal to him that she was hurting until after the game, the coach said.

Freshman Brittany Mack (1-0) pitched five innings of relief for the Tigers, allowing four runs, two of them earned, with six strikeouts.

Earlier, the Tigers (3-2) lost a heart-breaker to UAB, 5-3, on a three-run homer by Amanda Allen with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

"We got some breaks, made some plays, got lucky," LSU coach Yvette Girourd said. "The long flight home isn't quite as bad."