Softball Weekly Release No. 14
Hawai’i, ranked No. 20 in the USA Today/NFCA poll, seeks the outright Big West regular season softball title in the final week of conference play against Pacific. The Rainbow Wahine need just one win to secure the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
BIG WEST AT A GLANCE
• Hawai’i (40-11, 17-4) is assured of at least a share of the Big West regular season title but can clinch it outright with just one win this week. The Rainbow Wahine travel to third place Pacific for the final series of conference play. UH snapped a season-long three-game losing streak with two victories against UC Santa Barbara to position itself for the outright title.
• Long Beach State needs UH to get swept at Pacific in order to fall into a tie for the league crown. The 49ers (35-20, 17-7) have won five straight and eight of their last 10 to make a late season push for the title. The 49ers have concluded their league slate but are in action with a home doubleheader against Fresno State Saturday.
• The Big West is having a strong year as four schools populate the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) Top 75. Hawai’i leads the way at No. 22 in the RPI, followed by Cal State Fullerton (No. 54), Long Beach State (No. 58) and Pacific (No. 70).
• With a series victory against the Gauchos last week, Hawai’i reached the 40-win mark for the fifth time in the last seven seasons. In addition, head coach Bob Coolen won his 100th career Big West game in the series finale. Coolen, who also was coach from 1992-96 when UH made its first tour of duty through the Big West, accumulated 83 league wins to add to the 17 his squad has generated this season.
• Long Beach State’s sweep of UC Davis last week ensured that head coach Kim Sowder’s troops will place no worse than second in the final Big West standings, marking the fourth time in her seven seasons that the 49ers have finished second or better. The 49ers also hit the 35-win plateau for the fourth time during Sowder’s tenure.
• UH senior pitcher Kaia Parnaby tied the Big West record held by Cal Poly Pomona’s Rhonda Wheatley (1987) for most wins in a season with 35. The southpaw earned win No. 35 against UCSB Saturday despite giving up a season-high nine runs (seven earned) in the process. Parnaby also struck out 14 Gauchos in a season-opening 4-1 loss, marking the 11th time this season that she has fanned 10 or more in a game. She is now just seven K’s short tying the single-season record of 324 held by former UH standout Brooke Wilkins (1994).
• Pacific senior Nikki Armagost leads the Big West with 19 doubles, which is tied for the fifth-most in single-season annals. One more two-bagger would put Armagost in select company as only the fourth player in league history to amass 20 doubles in a campaign.
• UC Santa Barbara head coach Brie Galicinao seeks one win against UC Riverside this weekend to secure a 30-win campaign for the third time in her six-year tenure. The Gauchos won exactly 30 games in 2008 and 2012.
• Cal State Fullerton has won 10 of its last 12 contests to pull above the .500 mark (11-10) in Big West play and just one game below .500 (26-27) overall. The Titans last finished above .500 in both categories in 2009.