BYU's Lei pounding softball pitchers
By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer
Softball player Ianeta Lei admits that she has become a heavy hitter in her freshman year at Brigham Young University.
Jaren Wilkey • BYU
Asked if she had gained the legendary "freshman 15" pounds, the good-natured Lei answered, "More like the freshman 50. It's distressing. I've gained 40 pounds since I've been in Provo (Utah)."
Brigham Young freshman Ianeta Lei, an Iolani alum, has hit seven home runs, including a 350-foot shot last Saturday.
But Lei plans to trim the excess weight. "I will work on that during the summer," she promised.
There is no such remedy for pitchers in the Mountain West Conference and environs, who have been fed a steady diet of line drives and long shots from the former three-time first-team All-State player for Iolani.
In four games last week, Lei hit a grand slam and two solo home runs as BYU tuned up for the conference tournament starting tomorrow in San Diego, improving its record to a school-best 33-15.
Lei has a conference-high current hitting streak of 11 games, a .365 batting average (50-for-137) and 36 RBIs in 48 games.
"She has reconstructed the left-field fences at several fields with her line drives," coach Gordon Eakin said yesterday.
"She thinks the game well and has learned to make adjustments. As the pitchers think they have figured her out and throw to a weakness, it isn't a weakness any more.
The Hawai'i Homegrown Report appears every Wednesday. If you know of any Hawai'i athletes at Mainland colleges, give us their names, high schools, colleges and sports. We'll check them out. To reach us: • E-mail: dennis@lava.net or sports@honoluluadvertiser.com • Dennis Anderson's fax: (808) 236-4195 • Phone: On O'ahu 236-3654 or toll-free off O'ahu (888) 236-3654
"For example, she goes the other way (hits to right field) very well. So on Saturday, they threw her inside and she hit a 350-shot down the left-field line and out before anybody could blink."
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Said Lei: "Everything is coming together, I guess. I'm trying to be more relaxed and stop stressing."
Lei has had nine multiple RBI games, has hit seven home runs and has a slugging average of .577.
"It's fun, but I'm ready to come home next month for the summer." She said she got three A's, two B's and two C's in her first college semester.
Eakin tried Lei at several positions, but she is primarily a first baseman now.
BYU's other all-state freshman from Hawai'i, Baldwin alum Ashlyn Russell has started all but two games, usually at third base, despite a knee that is in constant pain, Eakin said. "She is playing through it," and batting .272 (37-for-136) with six home runs and 27 RBIs.
• UNLV
Freshman shortstop Samantha Sardinha of Kailua, a first-team All-State player for Kamehameha last season, was named UNLV's Rookie of the Year at a banquet Sunday.
Sardinha started the first 53 games and batted .125 (9-for-72), but she and another Rebel player were ruled ineligible for the final four regular-season games last weekend and the conference tournament this week after breaking a school rule regarding telephone use, she said.
