University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

2010 Softball Post-Season Blog - Having A Blast - 2010 Stanford Regional

Wahine Softball Post-Season Blog Archive

-  Alabama Super Regional
-  Stanford Regional
-  WAC Tournament

Sunday, May 23, 2010
The Rainbow Wahine punched their ticket to the Tuscaloosa Super Regional with a 7-1 win over Texas Tech to capture the Stanford Regional today! Hawai`i fell behind early, 1-0, but UH bounced back, hitting five solo home runs en route to the win. It is the second time in school history that the 'Bows have advanced to the Super Regionals. Hawai`i is the only school in the WAC to make it to the "sweet sixteen" in softball.

Birthday girl, Kelly Majam, led the home-half of the first inning with a homer for the sixth time this season. It was her 29th home run of the season. Traci Yoshikawa, Melissa Gonzalez, Jenna Rodriguez, and Katie Grimes all launched homers over the high-green fence of the Smith Family Softball Stadium. Rodriguez also had a two-run single as the coup de grace in the bottom of the sixth inning.

As a team, the 'Bows had six players hit .300 or over for the Regionals, outscoring their opponents 23-6 with eight home runs and 23 RBI.

Sophomore pitcher, Stephanie Ricketts, earned her third complete game win of the Regional.

The team will have a lift/run session tomorrow morning and then we will see where we end up. Travel day to Tuscaloosa is set for Tuesday, May 25th.

May 22, 2010
The Rainbow Wahine met in the lobby of the hotel we're staying at 10:15 a.m. and soon thereafter loaded up the vans to make the trek to the Smith Family Stadium on the Stanford campus. Everything in the NCAA tournament is timed, so the 'Bows started loosening up on the adjacent practice field first and then moved into the spaceous batting cage facility to warm up hitting.

The 'Bows struck early, scoring all six of their runs in the first three innings, highlighted by a two-run double by Alex Aguirre; a three-run homer by Melissa Gonzalez; and a solo homer by Amanda Tauali`i. Then UH held off the Cardinal, for the 6-3 win to advance to tomorrow's Regional championship game against Texas Tech, who defeated UC Davis today, 1-0 in the loser's bracket game. The Red Raiders then downed host, Stanford, 6-3 in the nightcap. 

After the game, the famliy and friends of the players made a little congratulatory tunnel for them to walk through, which was very cool!

Tomorrow's game(s) start at 1:00 p.m.

Photos courtesy of Tony Avelar and Dale Titcomb.

Friday, May 21, 2010
Hawai`i opened the tournament with a 10-2 win in five innings over the Big West Champion, UC Davis Aggies. Stephanie Ricketts earned the win with a complete game effort and Alex Aguirre went 2-for-4 with four RBI and Amanda Tauali`i hit her 17th home run of the season.  The 'Bows advance to play host, No. 15/17 Stanford who defeated Texas Tech tonight, 5-4. UH's game against the Cardinal will be at 12:00 p.m. (PST).

A lot of friends and families of the players made the trek up to Stanford to watch the Rainbow Wahine play in their ninth NCAA tournament. After the game, most of the team returned to the hotel, but some went back to watch the Stanford vs. Texas Tech game while others chose to be with their families.

The 'Bows will be the visiting team tomorrow, due to a coin flip between Stanford and UH since both winning teams were the home team tonight.

Photos courtesy of Tony Avelar Photography and Dale Titcomb.

Thursday, May 20, 2010
The team had a 10:00 a.m. practice at the Smith Family Stadium on the campus of Stanford University with exactly an hour and a half for practice. UH started by warming up on the adjacent practice field before moving to the softball stadium. The 'Bows started by doing defensive drills and then moved on to hitting.

It was a big day for the Hawai`i softball program, as five players were selected to the Louisville-Slugger/National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-West Region teams today. Melissa Gonzalez (third base), Kelly Majam (outfield), and Jenna Rodriguez (utility/designated player) were chosen to the first team...while Jessica Iwata (shortstop) and Stephanie Ricketts (pitcher) made the second-team.

After practice, the vans went off to different destinations to grab lunch and then some of the team went to relax in the hotel's pool while others chose to walk around the area. 

Opening day for the Regionals is tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010
This morning, the team had an early wake up call, with breakfast at 8:00 a.m. Soon thereafter, the team packed up the vans and headed to San Jose State for a 10:00 am practice. (Thank you to Coach Peter Turner for allowing us to use their field!)

The team practiced hard as they prepared for Friday's game against UC Davis. The team went through some defensive drills and then hitting practice while the pitchers threw in the bullpens.

After practice, we had a little while to shower, re-pack whatever we had taken out last night, and load the vans again with all of our gear to head to Palo Alto, where we will be staying for the rest of the week.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Today was a travel day for the Hawai`i softball team, moving from Las Cruces, N.M. to the Bay Area. The team could sleep in, as we didn't pack the vans until 12:15 p.m., and then it was off to El Paso, Texas (about an hour's drive). Everything went pretty smoothly in terms of check-in, and we soon boarded our flight to Los Angeles. We had about an hour layover in LAX before we hopped on another plane that took us to San Francisco. While the staff went to pick up the vans, the players took care of all of our baggage. It took awhile to get the vans, so the team waited with all of our gear inside the baggage claim. But traffic was bad outside because of construction at the airport, so when we finally pulled up, it was an intense few minutes of packing the vans with ALL of our gear, while security was urging us to keep it moving.

We're staying one night outside of the Palo Alto area because, as i wrote last night, there are two large conventions in the area, and there are no rooms in the Palo Alto/Santa Clara/San Jose area tonight. A BIG THANK YOU goes out to Eiko Titcomb (daughter of volunteer coach, Dickie Titcomb), who helped us immensely by tracking down rooms for us to stay in on a day's notice. And what nice rooms they are!

Tomorrow, the team has an early morning...8:00 am breakfast and practice at 10:00 am at San Jose State. We will then return, shower, re-pack, check-out and then head over to our home for the next few days in Palo Alto.

Monday, May 17, 2010
Today was a sort of mellow day for the team. Other than a full, morning practice, there wasn't much else planned for today. The team practiced hard, working on defense, hitting (both in the cages and live off Coach Bob), and baserunning. After practice, some of the players went swimming in the hotel's pool, or went to the movies, or just relaxed as they enjoyed some down time. 

Tomorrow, we head to the Bay Area...not quite the Palo Alto area yet...but close. Apparently, there are two HUGE conferences in the Palo Alto/Santa Clara/San Jose area until tomorrow, and there are NO hotel rooms available in a 32-mile radius...no really, a 32-mile radius of the area. So, the team will be staying in Newark tomorrow night before moving into the Palo Alto area on Wednesday afternoon. Tomorrow is just a travel day for the team, but on Wednesday, the 'Bows will hit the practice field again at San Jose State (thank you to Coach Peter Turner).

Sunday, May 16, 2010
There was no rest for the newly crowned WAC Tournament Champions, as the team had a lift and run session this morning courtesy of New Mexico State's friendly staff. The 'Bows loosened up in the parking area and then headed inside the Coca-Cola Weight Training Center that's tucked right behind the NMSU football stadium. The team did some ladders, lifted, and did some circuit work before heading outside to the football practice field, where they did their running and ended the session with a sprint up the hill...or should i say mini-mountain...that leads to the football stadium.

After the lift and run, some vans picked up lunch on the way back to the hotel. The team showered and rested before heading out to the outlet mall about half an hour away. After spending a couple of hours shopping, the team returned and awaited the NCAA Selection Show.

At 6:15 p.m., the team loaded up the vans and headed off to a local eatery to watch the selections. On one hand, i don't think we were stressing because the squad had won the WAC Tournament, therefore received the league's automatic bid so we were not on edge about just making into the tourney as in recent years. But on the other hand, i think everyone was still anxious to find out where our next destination would be. 

...and we didn't have to wait long, as Hawai`i was listed in the second Regional shown! Hawai`i was selected as the 16th seed in the NCAA, and is the top team in the Stanford Regional along with Stanford, Texas Tech and UC Davis. The show hosts talked a bit about the 'Bows and even had video of Kelly Majam and Amanda Tauali`i's home runs in yesterday's championship game against Fresno State. UH is familiar with two of the teams--Stanford and UC Davis--as the team played both of them earlier this year. It is the ninth time the UH is going to the postseason, all under the guidance of head coach, Bob Coolen.

Tomorrow, the team has it's first full practice in awhile at NMSU at 11:00 a.m. In the meantime, we will be working on all the travel logistics to get to Palo Alto in the morning.