Softball Weekly: Long awaited home openers loom this weekend vs. Concordia

This Week: Saturday-Sunday vs. Concordia, UH Hilo field, noon doubleheader each day
Last Games: 1-2 at Dixie State Easton Classic (Feb. 9-10)

Remember When?: Remember when the UH Hilo softball team had a game? It was just over three weeks ago while at the Dixie State tournament. The Vulcans returned home from the rain (and two rainouts) to practice for three weeks to get ready for their Pacific West Conference openers this weekend versus Concordia.

Meanwhile, in Irvine: The Eagles were 8-7-2 prior to a Thursday game against Arizona Christian in Irvine. They will also play at Hawaii Pacific, Chaminade and BYU-Hawaii after playing here on the Big Island. Concordia has impressive wins over previously nationally ranked Central Washington (5-1) and Colorado Mesa (4-3). The opened PacWest play last week with a pair of losses to pre-season favorite California Baptist, 6-2, 3-2. Alyssa Turner leads the offense with a .370 batting average and eight doubles, while four different pitchers have entered the pitcher's circle for the Eagles, posting a combined ERA of 1.93. The Eagles and Vulcans played each other last season for the first time since 2004, splitting a doubleheader in Irvine. UH Hilo leads the all-time series, 7-2.

Gaspar homers her way to POW honors: Junior Bailey Gaspar started her 2017 off with a bang, three big bangs to be exact on her way to earning the season's first Pacific West Conference Player of the Week honor. Gaspar, a first team all-region pick last year and a second team All-American honoree, hit home runs in her first three games of the season, including the game winner in the opener versus Northwest Nazarene. The corner infielder now has six home runs in 10 games and has driven in 15 runs. She also can boast of a sizzling .407 average and a 1.148 slugging percentage.

Mustangs, Mavericks, Metro and Vikings: After leaving the Desert Stinger with a 3-2 record, the Vulcans swept a doubleheader from Western New Mexico (10-5, 8-5) in a no-host game in Las Vegas and then played in the rain abbreviated Dixie State Classic. There, UHH lost a 6-5 heartbreaker to pre-season No. 19 ranked Colorado Mesa, where the Mavericks scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to rally back for the win. The Vuls next defeated Metro State (3-0) behind the two-hit shutout work of Danielle Wilson, and then were on the wrong end of another rally loss to Western Washington (7-4) when the Vikings broke a 4-4 tie with a three-run homer in the fifth.

Offensive fireworks: The Vulcans are hitting .300 as a team on the young season, the third best average in the PacWest. They have 13 home runs in 10 games and are averaging 6.4 runs per contest. In addition to Bailey Gaspar's monster numbers (see above), catcher Danielle Pulido checks in with a .367 batting average and nine RBI in nine games. Freshman Mari Kawano is batting .351 with a team-best four stolen bases. Freshman Brinell Kaleikini was named the PacWest Freshman of the Week after hitting .429 in the first five games of her collegiate career. The Honolulu native also drove in six runs, scored six times and reached base safely in each game. She went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI against Sonoma State, and she will for sure always remember her first college home run—a grand slam against Cal State Dominguez Hills. She is now hitting .320 and is second on the team in runs scored with 10.

Pitching progress: Senior Danielle Wilson is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA, tossing a two-hit shutout in her last outing against Metro State. Leah Gonzales claimed a win in her first collegiate action in the pitcher's circle, coming out of the bullpen to throw 6.2 effective innings against Northwest Nazarene. She is now 1-3 with a 4.40 ERA and has logged the most innings on the team at 28.2. Billi Derleth is 2-1 on the year and Cyanne Fernandez has 3.2 innings of relief under her belt with no earned runs on her ledger.

Youth is served: Three freshman made their collegiate debuts in Vegas as starters, four when you include pitcher Leah Gonzales. Brinell Kaleikini now has nine starts in right field and one at catcher. Kristen Ishii has started all 10 games in left field. Danielle Antolin has started eight games at second base and Gonzales has three starts in the pitcher's circle and one as the DP.

Coaches Corner: "It's tough not playing for three weeks, but we have tried to make the best of it," said Vulcan head coach Callen Perreira. "We've worked hard in practice. We have such a young team that you just want to keep playing games, but sometimes it's really good for that group to get in practice time as well. We are certainly anxious to play and are looking forward to our first home games."

Callen's back: Returning for his 21^st season at UHH, but his first since 2009 is head coach Callen Perreira. The school's all-time winningest coach is back after four seasons at College of Southern Nevada (136-104). Perreira's first season in the Vulcan dugout was in 1990 (13-15) and by his second season he had led his team to a program-record 39 wins (39-9). His teams won a pair of Pacific West Conference titles (2004-05) and they made NCAA regional appearances from 2005-07. His 1992 team placed fourth at the NAIA World Series. Including games thus far in 2017, his all-time mark as a UHH coach is now 582-349, and his all-time collegiate record is 718-453-3.