Friday, April 13, 2001
It has never done once what it plans on accomplishing four times today and tomorrow. But the University of Hawaii softball team is loaded with enough confidence to ... These Wahine not
’Dogged by history By Dave Reardon
Star-Bulletin... beat Fresno State? On the road? In a sweep?
"I'm pumped," Wahine pitcher Desiree Duran said last night. "I'm ready to play and beat them. I think the whole team feels that way. We want to win the WAC and we have the team to do it. Beating them at their home field will be sweet."
Duran, a senior left-hander, helped Hawaii to a split with 18th-ranked Pacific at Stockton, Calif., on Wednesday. She pitched a five-hitter to beat the Tigers, 4-2, for her second-consecutive win.
"That was big," said second baseman Natalie Gonzales, who went 3-for-6 in the doubleheader. "After losing the first game (9-1) we needed the momentum. Actually, we've been talking about never beating Fresno State here, and we're going in with the mind-set of winning all four games."
One reason for the tough talk is that the Bulldogs (29-13) are suffering a bad season, at least for them. They're down to No. 15 in the national rankings and are only a half game ahead of the Wahine (32-13) in the Western Athletic Conference standings.
FSU has won its conference championship in 12 of the past 16 seasons, and captured the national championship in 1998.
But the Bulldogs lost some key players in the off-season. Freshman Jamie Southern was supposed to fill the void, but she ripped a bicep tendon after striking out 18 in her first 12 innings pitched and is out for the year.
Meanwhile, the Wahine have won with contributions from nearly the entire roster. Freshman right-hander Felicity Witt (17-7) is the closest thing to a star, but she was raked for 12 hits by the Tigers on Tuesday.
"I'm kind of concerned about Felicity," UH coach Bob Coolen said. "But it seems to be Desiree's trademark that from the middle of the season to the end she gets hot."
Pitchers Janelle Gonzales (ankle) and Sheree Oronoz (finger) are banged up, but Coolen said they will be ready to pitch if needed.
"This is the pivotal series in the WAC," Coolen said from Fresno. "There will be 1,500 fans here. But we've done well on the road (14-7), and we haven't been playing against pansies."
Notes: Mitzi Ing, who pitched a perfect game as Iolani won the state championship in 2000, starts in rightfield for FSU. ... Hawaii is 4-36 overall against Fresno State.
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
