IRVINE, Calif.—Sophomore catcher Izabella Martinez became the first Rainbow Wahine softball player to ever earn back-to-back conference Field Player of the Week awards (WAC or Big West) in the program's 39-year history. She won the Big West weekly honor for the second-consecutive week after leading UH with a .600 batting average, four home runs and eight RBI as Hawai'i won their series over UC Riverside. She recorded at least one hit and one home run in all three games against UCR.
 
Martinez continued her hot hitting against the Highlanders. The Garden Grove, Calif.-native went 6-for-10 at the plate to help UH win its fourth Big West series. In the second game, with UH heading into the bottom of the seventh trailing 5-4, Martinez came through in the clutch, leading off the inning by smashing a solo shot over the centerfield fence to force extra innings. In the game, she tied her career high with three hits (3-for-4).
 
In the series finale, Martinez recorded career highs with two home runs and five RBI to help power UH past UC Riverside. Her second homer of the game was her first career grand slam. For the series, she had a team-high six hits, four runs, four HR, eight RBI with a 1.800 slugging percentage and a .636 on-base percentage. 
 
Martinez, who leads the Big West and is ranked 7th in the NCAA DI as the "Toughest to Strike Out" has only been fanned three times this year. Currently Martinez is on an eight-game hitting streak and overall, she leads UH with a .393 batting average, 44 hits, seven doubles 35 RBI, and a .696 slugging percentage. In Big West games, she tops the team with a .487 batting average, 22 hits, six home runs, 16 RBI and a slugging percentage of .913.  
 
Hawai'i has received three BW Field Player of the Week awards while earning seven overall weekly honors (Pitcher of the Week 1X and Freshman of the Week 3x) thus far in 2023. Mya'Liah Bethea garnered the Field POW accolates on Feb. 20 and Martinez now has two on back-to-back weeks. Although UH has had several players earn back-to-back Pitcher of the Week awards—most recently, Brittany Hitchcock (April 29, May 6, 2019)—before Monday, UH never had a player named Player of the Week (or Freshman of the Week either which started in 2019) in consecutive weeks.