University of Hawai'i at Manoa Athletics

Hawaii Quotes- Sunday, May 19, 2013
Hawaii vs. Washington

Head Coach- Bob Coolen, Pitcher- Kaia Parnaby, Shortstop- Jessica Iwata

Opening Statement-
(Coolen) We ran into a Washington team that was totally different than a team that we faced early on in the opening February tournament. The established two pitchers that dominated us and we just couldn’t find an answer to either of those two pitchers. We checked out bats our somewhere along the line, and we couldn’t find them against Washington. They did a nice job.

Was Walker doing anything that caught your eye today?
(Coolen) Nope, we just checked out. We didn’t have bats against Washington the two games we played. They did a nice job. In the 56 games from the first weekend we saw them in February until now…they’re gotten much more dominant in the circle.

Jessica, what did you see out of their pitcher that was tough?
(Iwata) I thought they mixed speeds really well and kind of got us to chase balls out of the zone. I think they did a really good job of that. I think our team was just not ready. They weren’t prepared to face pitches like that. I think we can put up a lot more bats that I think we showed in these last two games.

We Washington’s two pitchers two of the best you faced this year?
(Iwata) We’ve faced some really good pitchers this year. I just think their presence on the mound was really good, and we weren’t able to make adjustments on them. The pitchers are going to take advantage of hitters who don’t make adjustments, and that’s what they did.

How’s your left arm doing?
(Parnaby) It’s okay… sucks that it was the last game. But now I have time to recuperate and get going again. It’s still there…it’s still attached.

In terms of national teams and stuff do you have much going on this summer?
(Parnaby) Yeah I’m playing in World Cup Softball and for a club back home.  The world cup is at Oklahoma City in the beginning of July.

With the homeruns hit off you, were you tired? Was there any particular factor?
(Parnaby) Look, they’re good hitters. They see a pitch and they hit it. I was probably not as fine as I should have been. They’re a good hitting team, and they have some great hitters. They took advantage of those two pitches.
 
Kaia’s a real ironman. She threw pitches and pitches and pitches and does it really well.
(Iwata) Like we’ve been saying all year, Kaia is a competitor. I’m really proud to be her teammate these past four years. He’s amazing. Everytime the coach gave her the ball she took the challenges. We’ve had some tough losses along the way but she never let up until today. Today she did her best, and did some very good pitching.

What do you have planned for the future?
(Iwata) I’m getting labrum surgery when I get back to Hawaii.  Depending on how rehab goes after, I may try to find a team to play pro-ball. Wherever they pick me up, I’m willing to go anywhere.

Coach, writing from a Washington perspective, how would you give them a chance in going far in the tournament.
(Coolen) Well if Missouri wins their regional, they’ll have a tough time in Missouri. It’s just two top ranked teams that have dominant pitchers. It’s going to be a matter of if Washington isn’t going to chase the rise ball of the Missouri pitcher, and they stay discipline. They have some good hitters. They have all the elements; they have to speed, they have the power; two pitchers that can go into the circle and get the job done. It’s a matter of who is hot and who’s not. I mean Missouri wasn’t hot the first game against Hofstra, and they came back. Now they’re doing what Hofstra did to them in the second game. It’s a matter of what you do in the moment that’s going to make you successful.  You can feel the tenor of the game the minute the first pitch is thrown whether or not you’re in charge. And today weren’t in charge, and Washington was at that first pitch.

Bob, how would you sum up Kaia’s season overall?
(Coolen) I’ve never had a pitcher who I’ve give the ball to as religiously as Kaia. You know Stephanie Ricketts was in the program her freshman year. We gave the ball a lot to here in the conference season but we went nowhere after the conference season. So it was sort of a warm up for Stephanie but with Kaia, the beginning of the year, my biggest concern was do we have enough pitching to make it through the year. I knew we had the senior class hitters, I just didn’t know if we had the pitching. I didn’t know it was going to be the pitcher, only.  And that’s what it came down to. When she was really in a groove and it looked effortless that’s when I realized that we could go places and do some special things. She was very dominant from the get go. We used sparring Loie and Keiki.  We didn’t use Keiki at all, and just used Loie. It’s imperative, next year, that we establish more than one pitcher coming in, and going from there. But Kaia really came through this year.