Hawai'i wraps up its first WAC title
Advertiser Staff
After finishing runners-up four of the past five seasons, the University of Hawai'i captured its first Western Athletic Conference softball championship yesterday after sweeping Louisiana Tech, 6-3 and 7-0, in Ruston, La.
The Rainbows (37-18 overall, 17-3 WAC) also earned the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that comes with the league title to finish their regular season. The Lady Techsters dropped to 16-38 and 6-10).
"First out-right title," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "It felt unreal.
"I was sitting there in the last inning with two outs and I was thinking, 'How can we end this right now?' And Coogs (Melissa Coogan) struck the batter out and the team just went nuts. They went ballistic."
Meanwhile, five-time defending champion Fresno State had its day literally clouded first by having its doubleheader with San Jose State postponed because of rain and then by the news of UH clinching the title. Fresno State (10-4) dropped four games behind UH with six WAC games remaining. But the most wins the Bulldogs can garner is 16, still leaving them a game behind.
The sophomore right-hander Coogan, who pitched victories in Friday's doubleheader, lasted only 1 1/3 innings, giving up three runs to the Lady Techsters yesterday.
Coolen said Coogan had trouble keeping her pitching hand dry because of the humidity. But Shannon Tabion (6-8) responded with 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing the Rainbows to rally with a run in the third, a run in the fourth and three in the fifth on a three-run home run by Stacey Porter. Porter's homer came off Maria Pinkston (11-17) to give UH a 5-3 lead. Hawai'i added a run in the seventh for insurance.
"Coogs was having trouble keeping her hands dry from all of the humidity," Coolen said. "She was just sweating profusely. The night before, it started affecting her in the second game. Today it was so bad because its was hot and humid."
The Game 1 win clinched UH at least a share of the WAC title.
"After we won the first game, we decided, 'Well, Coogs brought us here. Why don't we try tape up her forearm and keep the perspiration off her fingers,' " Coolen said. "And it seemed to work. We tried all kinds of things to keep her hand dry."
In the second game, Coogan ended up tossing a four-hitter to improve to 29-9 on the season, matching the single-season school record for pitching victories with Brooke Wilkins (1994 and 1995).
Porter's two-run home run ignited the Rainbows in the third inning.
Trisha Ramos led off the fourth with a home run to make it 3-0 against Techster starter Sabra Warner (0-4). Hawai'i blew the game open in the fifth on Marie Jackson's bases-clearing double to make it 6-0. The Rainbows added an unearned run in the top of the seventh to complete their scoring.
The Rainbows rode the right-arm of Coogan the past month. Coolen admitted he did not think going with basically one pitcher was going to work. But there was some luck involved. It began at Fresno State when the first day's scheduled doubleheader at night was postponed because of inclement weather. That moved the doubleheader to the next day. The Rainbows won that doubleheader, but lost the next day to earn a split of the series.
When the Rainbows returned home for series against Nevada and San Jose State, the doubleheaders were held with a day's rest. That allowed Coogan to start six of the eight games.
"Scheduling was in our favor, definitely," Coolen said.
The Rainbows came close to winning the title in 2001, when they finished 16-4 and had the most wins in the conference. But because of rainouts that could not be made up, Fresno State finished 13-3 and won the WAC crown by percentage points.
While the rest of the conference finishes the season, the Rainbows have a bye week before awaiting the NCAA regional selections a week from today.
"This feels good because now we have a week," Coolen said. "We know we're going to regionals and we can savor the moment."
Fresno State, which is a host site for one of the eight regionals, still has a chance to earn a berth, as does third-place Tulsa.
