'Bows tune up against Centenary
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Today's doubleheader at Centenary serves as a warmup for one of the most crucial series in Rainbow Wahine softball history.
Hawai'i can clinch its first Western Athletic Conference championship by sweeping doubleheaders at Louisiana Tech Friday and Saturday. The 'Bows (32-17, 13-3 WAC) hold a two-game lead over Fresno State (29-20, 10-4) going into their final games.
FSU plays at San Jose State Sunday and closes the regular season with doubleheaders against LaTech May 8 and Tulsa May 10 — the day the 2003 NCAA Softball Championship field is announced.
FSU has won six of the last seven WAC titles. The Rainbows have been second four times, including the last three years. Tulsa (32-23) and Tech (16-34) share third place at 6-6.
The NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams this year. The WAC champion gets one of the 26 automatic bids this season but not next because of NCAA rules regulating league makeup. The WAC will get its automatic berth back in 2005, when Nevada has three consecutive years in the conference.
Fresno State will host one of the eight regionals. Each regional has eight teams, playing double-elimination. This is the first year the NCAA has named regional sites in advance of the tournament. Selections were based on location, facility quality and "quality of the experience for student-athletes, including attendance history." Host schools are not guaranteed a tournament bid.
The Rainbows play Centenary College (19-34) in Shreveport, La., this afternoon, then drive to Ruston tomorrow. LaTech is 9-8 at home this season. Hawai'i is 12-11 away from home and hitting just .252 — 27 points off its WAC-best batting average. But, the 'Bows have hit 16 of their 31 homers on the Mainland. Stacey Porter leads the WAC in hitting (.460) and homers (13), with six homers coming on the road.
In the teams' first meeting last year, Hawai'i took 3-of-4 from the Techsters. The same result this week would guarantee UH at least a tie for first with Fresno, which has won its last six since dropping a doubleheader at Tulsa.
The Rainbows have won 11 of 12 since splitting four games in Fresno. San Jose State ended their winning streak two short of the school record Saturday.
"We put pressure on ourselves to have to win all four at LaTech," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "We lose one ... and LaTech at home is very good lately ... if we have any type of game like we had against San Jose this last game it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough anyway. LaTech is still in the hunt. We put Tulsa in the hunt and obviously we put Fresno closer to us."
SHORT HOPS: UH junior Stacey Porter needs four homers — she has 34 — to move into second on the WAC career list. ... With 26 victories, UH pitcher Melissa Coogan is tied for eighth-best in WAC history. Former FSU pitcher Maureen Brady set the single-season record with 36 wins in 1994. ... Saturday's postgame senior celebration concluded with UH freshman Alana Power leading the non-seniors in a song — complete with Hawaiian chant — she wrote for seniors Kate Judd and Trisha Ramos. With Power on guitar, the players sang to their "quiet leaders" and saluted Judd's WAC Player of the Year honors and sarcasm, and Ramos' quickness and "five years and counting" college career. ... Hawai'i received votes in the last two USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Top 25 polls, placing 32nd each week. ... Jennifer Hackett, a senior at North High School in California, is Hawai'i's sixth softball recruit. Coach Bob Coolen expects her to play at second and in the outfield and, with her speed, hit near the top of the lineup. ... Tyleen Tausaga (Kaimuki), Shannon Guerrero (Leilehua), Jessica Morton (Oregon), Dena DePompa (California) and Caroline Blood (California) signed earlier.
