HONOLULU--The University of Hawai'i softball team opens its 2023 season hosting the 34th Annual Paradise Classic tournament from Friday, February 10 - Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023 at the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. St. Mary's (CA) of the West Coast Conference and Utah Tech out of the Western Athletic Conference join Hawai'i to kick off the season in Honolulu.
 

PARADISE CLASSIC (Feb. 10-12, 2023) - Hawai'i (BW), St. Mary's (CA) (WCC), Utah Tech (WAC)
Tournament Schedule				Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 3:00 p.m. - St. Mary's (CA) vs. Utah Tech 5:30 p.m. - Hawai'i vs. Utah Tech 7:30 p.m. - Hawai'i vs. St. Mary's Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023 1:00 p.m. - Utah Tech vs. St. Mary's 3:30 p.m. - Utah Tech 5:30 p.m. - St. Mary's Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023 10:00 a.m. - Hawai'i vs. Utah Tech 12:00 p.m. - Hawai'i vs St. Mary's
Location				Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium (1,200) - Honolulu, O'ahu
Promotions				Great Prizes will be awarded throughout the Paradise Classic for the winners of the popular "Ballpark Bingo." Also, T-shirts will be thrown into the stands during the fourth inning of every UH game.
Radio				ONLY FOR 2/10 GAME VS. ST. MARY'S - ESPN Honolulu (1420 AM, 92.7 FM) - Josh Pachedo (play-by-play)
Audio Stream				ONLY FOR 2/10 GAME VS. ST. MARY'S - ESPN Honolulu / Sideline Hawaii App
Live Stats				HawaiiAthletics.com
Game Day Rosters				Paradise Classic Game Day Roster
Game Notes				Hawai'i  |  St. Mary's  |  Utah Tech
Social Media				@HawaiiSB  | #HawaiiSB | @HawaiiSoftball  | Facebook
Tickets				Admission is FREE

HEAD COACH: Bob CoolenOverall record: 1,122-760-1 (37th Season)
At Hawai'i: 1,050-667-1 (32nd Season)

ALL-TIME RECORD vs. UTAH TECH (Formerly Dixie State)Overall: First meeting

ALL-TIME RECORD vs. ST. MARY'S (CA)Overall: UH leads, 15-3
Streak: UH, 5
Last meeting: 2/9/19

NEWS & NOTES•The 2023 Rainbow Wahine looks to build upon last season's third place finish after sweeping Cal State Fullerton late in the season for the first time in program history. UH finished with a 17-10 record in the Big West. while going 23-19 overall.

•Bob Coolen enters his 32nd season as UH's head coach and 37th overall. Currently, he is ranked No. 30 with 1,122 wins in the All-Time NCAA Winningest Coaches list (by victories), which includes all collegiate divisions and past/present coaches). He is ranked No. 20 in NCAA All-Time Division I Winningest Coaches By Victories and amongst NCAA Division I active Division I coaches, his 1,122 wins currently ranks him at No. 5. Coolen is the second longest tenured coach at UH behind sailing's Andy Johnson.

•LOPEZ BACK IN THE CIRCLE - Sophomore lefty-pitcher Brianna Lopez returns for her sophomore campaign. Earlier this month, she was the lone Rainbow Wahine voted to the Big West Preseason Coaches' Team. Last year as a true freshman, she earned all-Big West First Team and Freshman Team honors. She finished the year with a 14-8 overall record in 28 appearances while posting a 2.07 ERA in 162.0 IP. She tossed 19 complete games with four shutouts. Lopez finished 2023 ranked No. 2 in the Big West and No. 75 in the NCAA D1 with a 2.07 ERA.

•TOP HITTERS RETURN - UH returns its top two hitters from last season—Maya Nakamura and Ka'ena Keliinoi. Nakamura returns for junior season after leading UH with a .333 batting average and 22 walks. Keliinoi was second on the team hitting .330 with a team-high nine doubles.

•RETURNERS LOOK TO LEAD THE WAY - Hawai'i has six returning position players and three returning pitchers.
    -As a freshman, Izabella Martinez was the iron woman behind the plate, starting 40 of 42 games at catcher. As a rookie, she called her own pitches and proved to be a good receiver for all four pitchers who saw action. On offense, she hit .256 for the season and came through with some timely clutch hits throughout the year.
    -Dallas Millwood, a senior first baseman,  finished the season strong at the plate and looks bring that into '23. Last season, she finished with a .224 batting average with five home runs and 18 RBI.
    -Junior second baseman Nakamura was just one of two Rainbow Wahine to start all 42 games at the same position (Nawai Kaupe). Nakamura earned all-Big West second team honors last season.
    -Junior Ka'ena Keliinoi showed her versatility starting 40 games at four different positions--including all three in the outfield. Keliinoi however found her home at the hot corner, starting 22 games at third base. Last season, she started the season as one of the toughest players to strikeout. She was one of just 15 players to enter the fourth week without a strikeout and later she went though the first 23 games with just one strikeout against Baylor. Keliinoi also had a team-best 12-game hitting streak which was the longest at UH since 2019 and Nicole Lopez went 13-straight games with a hit.
    -After Keliinoi slid over to third, junior utility player Mya'Liah Bethea locked down left field where she started 25 games. Like Keliinoi, she started five different positions - five games in right, three at first base,one at catcher, and one as designated player.
    -Midway through last season, sophomore Haley Johnson secured her position as the designated player. She finished the year hitting.222 with a double two triples, three homers and 11 RBI.
    -UH began the season with two freshman pitchers who traded start early on. Chloe Borges made a total of eight starts, but was sidelined with an injury, Lopez picked up the slack and more, starting 24 total games.

•BIG SHOES TO FILL - Hawai'i will have to fill the void left by three key players on the 2022 squad—Nawai Kaupe, Brittnee Rossi and Mikaela Gandia-Mak. Kaupe. Former shortstop Kaupe led Hawai'i with 42 hits, 26 runs scored, 13 home runs (led the Big West), 3 RBI, 14 stolen bases, and a slugging % of .664. Rossi & Gandia-Mak's departure leaves 2/3 of the outfield bare as Rossi was a starter for all of her career in centerfield while Gandia-Mak found her home in rightfield as a senior making 26 starts there.

•DOUBLE PLAY POWER - Last season, UH finished ranked No. 1 in the NCAA turning .62 double plays per game. Two of the major players involved were Nakamura and Kaupe. With Kaupe gone, the 'Bows will have to find a new face to hold things down at short.

•THE PITCHING STAFF - begins 2023 with seven pitchers on its roster—the most in recent history. Led by sophomore pitchers Brianna Lopez and Chloe Borges, UH welcomes four new pitchers—Key-annah Campbell-Pua (6-2, Fr., Nipomo, Calif.), Amelia "Millie" Fidge (5-9, Fr. Adelaide, South Australia), Malia Williams (5-3, Fr., Eugene, Ore.), and sophomore transfer McKenna Kostyszyn (5-5, So, Frisco, Texas) who comes to UH after a season at New Mexico. Amongst UH's four new pitchers, is UH's newest player coming through Coolen's Aussie pipeline, freshman Millie Fidge.

•LEFTIES, LEFTIES EVERYWHERE - For the first time ever, Hawai'i has 11 lefty hitters plus one switch-hitter (Larissa Goshi) to potentially make their way to the plate--eight of which are newcomers to the team.

•INCOMING TRANSFERS - Two of UH's 13 newcomers are transfer student-athlets. Infielder Malia Xiao Gin is a junior transfer from Oregon State. She appeared in 91 games with 84 starts at second base and one at pitcher. She graduated in three years from Oregon State as Summa cum Laude with a BA in Kinesiology. Kostyszyn is a sophomore transfer from New Mexico, where she appeared in six games with one start in 2022.