Road wins key to UHH success
By Brandon Masuoka
Advertiser Staff Writer
A road-heavy schedule did little to faze the University of Hawai'i-Hilo women's softball team, which won its first Pacific West Conference title this season.
The Vulcans played 30 of their 40 games away from Hilo and went 21-9 on the road. UH-Hilo finished 31-9 and 16-4 in the PacWest.
Perreira
Sing Chow
"We had to get it done on the road," UH-Hilo coach Callen Perreira said. "This bunch of girls has done a lot of special things that no one has ever done."
Perreira said the cost of interisland travel for visiting teams, and a conference scheduling rule that requires teams to rotate home-away series contributed to a schedule heavy with road games.
UH-Hilo received the automatic berth to next week's NCAA regional tournament. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday. Regional tournaments begin Thursday.
The Vulcans won the PacWest with only one senior (infielder Lisa Jackson) and swept a four-game series at three-time defending PacWest champion Western New Mexico April 6 and 7. Until that series, the Mustangs had never lost a PacWest doubleheader at home.
"It was huge for us, and it helped build our confidence even more," co-captain Leo Sing Chow said of the sweep. "It was a proud moment for all of us and the coaches, too."
The Vulcans led the PacWest in pitching (1.73 earned-run average) and hitting (.334). Eleven of their 14 position players have averages of .300 or better. Sing Chow leads at .409.
UH-Hilo also is ranked 12th nationally in batting average and 11th in scoring (6.73 per game).
"We were able to put down our bunts when we needed to; we were able to move our runners," junior catcher Natalie Fujimoto said. "Everyone did their job. Even the people on the bench, when they came in to pinch hit, they got hits for us."
As for the pitching staff, freshman right-hander Britni Rodriguez led UH-Hilo in wins (10-1, 2.12) and struck out 79 in 66 innings. Also anchoring the staff was junior right-hander and co-captain Sarah Steele (9-4, 1.33), sophomore left-hander Sing Chow (9-3, 1.98) and sophomore right-hander Miki Asamura (3-1, 1.28).
"All of our pitchers could hold their own ground," Sing Chow said. "It definitely helped take some pressure off each of us."
Sing Chow said the only "sad part" of the team's season was that fans didn't get to see many games because "we were always on the road." UH-Hilo went 10-0 at home.
"The last game (a 11-10 home victory over Hawai'i Pacific) we had huge support from our fans," Sing Chow said. "It helped us that we had everyone believing in us."
Men's basketball
Chaminade's Griess resigns, gets new job
Chaminade athletic director and head men's basketball coach Aaron Griess has resigned to become head basketball coach at Augsburg College (Division III) in Minneapolis, Minn.
"It's a great situation for our family and I get to be closer to home," said Griess, who was born and raised in Nebraska. "It's a nice job and a good situation."
No replacement for Griess has been named. His final day at Chaminade is today.
Griess led Chaminade to a 16-11 record this past season. His five-year record was 71-61.
He came to Chaminade in 1996 as an assistant coach under Al Walker. Griess is married and has three children.
Women's tennis
BYUH's win streak at NCAA-best 126 matches
The top-ranked Brigham Young-Hawai'i women's tennis team currently owns the longest winning streak in any NCAA sport.
The Seasiders won their 126th consecutive dual match by defeating Hawai'i-Hilo, 5-0, to win the Pacific West Conference Tournament on April 23.
With the win, the Seasiders (25-0) broke a deadlock they had shared with the Trinity College (Conn.) men's squash team for the longest winning streak.
BYUH and UH-Hilo are playing in the 2005 NCAA Division II Women's Tennis Championship. UH-Hilo faces the winner of tomorrow's UC-San Diego/Cal State Los Angeles match in San Diego on Saturday. BYUH will host Cal Poly Pomona today.
