Seven Rainbow Wahine named All-WAC
| • | UH opens against LSU |
By Ann Miller
Advertiser Staff Writer
Before the University of Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine softball team knew its NCAA Tournament fate yesterday, it had seven players named all-Western Athletic Conference, including four to the first team.
| All-WAC softball |
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| Melissa Coogan |
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| Trisha Ramos |
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| Tracie Uchima |
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| Stacey Porter |
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| Bob Coolen |
"I think he's deserved it a number of years," UH senior Kate Judd said of Coolen. "It's about time."
Senior Trisha Ramos and sophomore Tracie Uchima joined Porter and Coogan on the first team, while Judd, Denise Dahlberg and April Crowell made the second team.
Tuesday, Judd won the Jack Bonham Award, UH's most prestigious athletic honor. "This whole week has been unbelievable," the 2001 and 2002 WAC Player of the Year said. "So memorable."
The week of celebration can be traced to a league season that began on a historic note and ended with a historic title.
The Rainbow Wahine won their first WAC title with a 17-3 record. They opened with their first sweep of nemesis Fresno State, then clinched the championship by taking 15 of their last 16.
In the interim, Porter and Coogan dominated.
"We've never had two players put up numbers like that on both sides," Coolen said. "When (former All-American) Brooke (Wilkins) was here, we really had no superstars in the lineup. With Melissa, we have Porter and no one ever really figured her out. If they figured her out early she made the adjustment and hurt them later."
Porter, a junior from Australia, hit .458 in the WAC and .468 overall — eighth-best in the country. She also led the league in runs (22), total bases (60) and homers, with a WAC-record nine.
She is second on the all-time WAC home run list with 38 and hopes to move higher when she returns for her final season in 2005. Porter is scheduled to play for Australia's Olympic team next year.
Her constant brilliance might have been a surprise, but her talent was not. She earned all-WAC honors her first two seasons.
Coogan is 29-9, which puts her among the Top 10 in the country and gives her 78 percent of Hawai'i's victories. Her 14 WAC wins — against one loss — is fifth-best in league history.
"She beat good teams early," Porter said. "When you're winning games like that ... she got on a high, I guess. She just kept winning."
Coogan has won with near-perfect control (51 walks in 245 innings) and the guts and guile to allow opponents to hit the ball, but only pitches she wants them to hit.
"She got the outs at the right time by putting the ball in play inside the ballpark," Coolen said. "She's not making mistake pitches."
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