Softball Final Release
No. 20/23 Hawai’i won the Big West championship, reached the NCAA Tournament, and set conference team and individual records to highlight a solid 2013 softball season.
BIG WEST AT A GLANCE
• Hawai’i wrapped up a solid 2013 campaign with a 2-2 performance in the NCAA Tournament in the Seattle Regional. The Rainbow Wahine opened up the tournament with a 3-0 win against Minnesota. UH then lost a winner’s bracket game, 2-0, to host and No. 11 seed Washington. In an elimination game, UH blanked Minnesota for the second time by a 3-0 score, and advanced to the regional championship against the Huskies. Needing to beat the Huskies twice to win the regional, the Rainbow Wahine fell 8-0 in five innings to conclude the season 45-13 overall.
• The 45 wins for UH were the most by a Big West squad since Long Beach State won 51 games in 2004.
• UH senior pitcher Kaia Parnaby broke two long-standing Big West single-season records. With 39 wins, she trumped the old mark of 35 set by Cal Poly Pomona’s Rhonda Wheatley in 1987. In addition, Parnaby amassed 342 strikeouts to unseat former UH standout Brooke Wilkins from the top spot. Wilkins, who mentored Parnaby in their native Australia, fanned 325 batters in 1994.
• Parnaby also became just the fifth pitcher in league history to log 300 innings in a season. The southpaw threw 312.2 innings to rank No. 4 in the Big West record book. Her 50 appearances put her in a tie for second all-time.
• The Hawai’i offense also excelled in 2013 as the conference leader in several categories, including slugging percentage (.503), runs scored (302) and RBI (273).However, the most impressive accomplishment from the UH bats was its home run total. The 81 roundtrippers established a Big West record, surpassing the 65 that the 2002 Cal State Fullerton squad tallied.
• Senior Kelly Majam was the centerpiece of the Rainbow Wahine home run barrage with a league-leading 18, a total that placed her No. 2 on the Big West single-season list. Majam also broke the conference record for runs scored with 59.
• Long Beach State had another successful campaign with a 37-20 record and second place Big West finish, going 17-7 in league play. The 37 victories represent the ninth time in the last 12 years that the 49ers have compiled at least 30 wins.
• Freshman Darian Tautalafua gives the 49ers an exciting future at the plate as her 13 home runs tied her for No. 11 on the Big West single-season chart. The 13 bombs also were one shy of the school record of 14. Tautalafua led the Big West with 46 RBI, which broke the LBSU single-season record.
• LBSU junior pitcher Erin Jones-Wesley tallied her third consecutive 20-win season as she finished 20-8 overall. The right-hander now owns a 64-29 career record and sits just three wins shy of moving into the Big West career top 10.
• Cal State Fullerton finished in third place in the Big West standings at 13-11 in the first season of Kelly Ford’s tenure. Ford helped the Titans win 12 of their last 15 games as the program finished at least .500 (28-28) for the first time since 2009.
• Pacific head coach Brian Kolze wrapped up his 21st and final season as a head coach in the Big West as his program will move into the West Coast Conference next year. Kolze, the winningest coach in school history, won four Big West Coach of the Year awards and leaves the conference as the second-winningest all-time with 642 victories.
• Seniors Megan Hom and Nikki Armagost finished their Tiger careers in the top 10 of the Big West record book. Hom ranked No. 2 in runs scored (162) and No. 4 in hits (269) while posting a .372 average that was eighth-best. Armagost knocked in 151 runs in her four seasons in the orange and black, placing her at No. 5 in Big West annals. In addition, her 61 doubles was No. 2 on the list.
• UC Santa Barbara posted its third straight winning season with Brie Galicinao as head coach. The Gauchos went 31-24, marking the second straight year UCSB compiled 30 wins and the third time overall during Galicinao’s tenure.
• With a 25-31 record, Cal State Northridge improved by 15 wins from the 2012 season.