By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist

What are the chances somebody would pitch the ace of their staff four times in the space of 24 hours, even in softball?

Well, if you're Bob Coolen, the University of Hawai'i softball coach, that's a question that has to be bouncing around in the back of your mind this week.

For this is showdown week in the Western Athletic Conference and, where two of the conference's unbeaten teams, UH (4-0 WAC; 22-19 overall) and 14th-ranked Fresno State (6-0; 33-12) are concerned, something of a make-or-break four-game weekend series.

If there was a place where you could say anything might go, it could be Friday and Saturday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, especially with these two rivals.

Five times in the past six years these teams have wound up one-two in the conference standings. Last year, after four often frustrating runner-up finishes, it was the Rainbow Wahine who took home the trophy and the automatic NCAA berth.

They did it the hard way, too, winning twice in Fresno, the breakthrough coming in a suitable-for-framing 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs' two-time All-America pitcher, Jamie Southern, who has otherwise owned them, as she has nearly everybody else, with a 5-1 record.

In all, UH saw Southern in four of the five games (including one non-conference meeting) it played last year and she had a 3-1 record to show for it.

Now, the way the Bulldogs used Southern both as a starter and reliever to sweep a doubleheader at Louisiana Tech on Thursday and then brought her back in dual roles to sweep Tulsa on Saturday, has given UH something to think about.

"No," Coolen said upon reflection, "she's such a good pitcher. It wouldn't surprise me (to see Southern) in the least. Not at all."

Especially if UH manages to get to whoever else the Bulldogs might trot out as a starting pitcher and the Rainbow Wahine's one-two pitching punch of Shannon Tabion and Melissa Coogan is on its game.

"Just looking at the way Margie (Wright, the FSU coach) has been setting up her rotation, it seems like she goes with Jamie and then will start one of the other two pitchers," Coolen said. "Then, if teams start hitting her other pitchers, she can bring in Jamie as a closer."

So far, the results are hard to argue with. Southern's success — a 22-5 record and two saves in 30 appearances — is underlined by a stingy 0.26 earned run average. To put her mastery in perspective, the second-best ERA in the WAC is five times higher than Southern's.

If UH can put on the pressure, suddenly, the idea that Southern could see plenty of action here might not be all that far-fetched anymore.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.