HOMEGROWN REPORT
On the softball field and in classroom, Ing's all business
By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Know where to go for shoyu chicken and kalua pig and cabbage when you're in Fresno, Calif.?
Stop by the apartment of Fresno State softball player Mitzi Ing and soccer player Erin Sayegusa.
But please remember to leave your shoes at the door.
"You just cringe when you see people walking in with their shoes on," said Sayegusa, a 2000 Kaiser High graduate from Honolulu.
"They understand, they're fine with it," said Ing, a 2000 Iolani School graduate from 'Aiea. "We only have to ask them once, and they remember the next time they come over."
Ing and Sayegusa are seniors scheduled to graduate this year. They have been roommates for three of the four years they have been at Fresno State.
"I think we just keep each other sane, because we're both from Hawai'i," Ing said.
Ing, a four-year starting outfielder for the No. 14 Bulldogs, will play in her final home games Saturday against Tulsa. She has played and started in 57 of 59 games and is fifth on the team in batting average (.260).
"I think it has a lot to do with confidence and never underestimating yourself," Ing said of her success on the field and in the classroom. "I think Hawai'i people have a lot of heart; it sets us apart. It makes us special, the way that we've grown up and the way everyone is raised. I noticed that they have a lot of fight in them."
Ing, who has a 3.89 cumulative grade point average, was presented the Bulldog Foundation Outstanding Business Student Award at the school's Torch of Excellence banquet last week. The award is given to the top student-athlete who is graduating from Fresno State's Craig School of Business.
Ing and Sayegusa were also honored as two of 12 Torchlighters, an award given to those who have completed eligibility, maintained a cumulative 3.5 GPA and lettered in two of the past three years.
Ing is the first player from Hawai'i in Fresno State softball history. Coach Margie Wright said the standards Ing has set both academically and athletically are "second-to-none. They are indicative of what we want every athlete on our team to be."
Wright said Ing is usually a host for recruits, especially the ones Fresno State is really going after.
"It's really nice to say your hostess has a 4.0, or pretty close," Wright said.
Ing, a three-time Western Athletic Conference All-Academic honoree, said she believes that attitude, hard work and dedication are what make a person successful, and she has followed that philosophy throughout her career.
"She's very dedicated in everything she does; she does it 100 percent," said Sayegusa, who also described her roommate as "super hyper," "spontaneous" and "random."
Ing, a business management major, said that after she graduates in the fall, she will probably either go to graduate school in Los Angeles or Hawai'i, or teach English in Japan with Sayegusa.
But for now, she said she will concentrate on closing the regular season and focusing on the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
"The last two years we've lost to the eventual champions (in the regionals)," Ing said. "It's just heartbreaking, but it just shows that we can be there and we can win the whole thing."
She said she is happy with her decision to go to Fresno State, because of the excellence of the program.
"Just being able to get away from home, grow up as a person and a player, it's been a wise decision for me," Ing said. "I remember my freshman year, having to ride the bus for more than 20 minutes was long. Now we have 4- to 6-hour bus rides. It took a while to get used to it.
"When I go home, 20 minutes is still a long time for me, but I can handle it."
Note: Erin Sayegusa, a Liberal Studies in Education major, is a three-time WAC All-Academic selection and was named to the All-WAC second team in 2002.
