Hawaii Beat
Star-Bulletin staff
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AP PHOTO / KAREN WILSON, A.S.P.
Bruce Irons of Hawaii wiped out on a huge wave Sunday as he prepared for the Billabong Pro surfing tournament in Teahupoo, Tahiti. Irons, brother of three-time Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) world champion Andy Irons, will take on Chris Ward and Trent Munro in round one. The Billabong Pro runs Friday to May 14 and is the third event on the ASP World Tour. It features the top 45 surfers in the world and three wild cards. CLICK FOR LARGE
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UH bids to host softball regional
After climbing the national rankings and capturing the Western Athletic Conference's regular-season title, the Hawaii softball team hopes its road might eventually lead back home.
UH has submitted a bid to host one of the 16 four-team regionals that will be announced on May 13. The amount of the bid was not disclosed. The regionals are scheduled for May 18-20, with eight Super Regionals the following week.
The 14th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (45-9, 16-2 WAC) have a week off to prepare for the WAC tournament, set for May 10-12 in Fresno, Calif. The winner of the tournament earns the WAC's automatic bid to the NCAA regionals, though UH will likely get a berth regardless of the outcome.
Also, Kate Robinson and Justine Smethurst were named the WAC Hitter and Pitcher of the Week yesterday after helping the Wahine clinch the regular-season title over the weekend,
Robinson went 7-for-11 with two home runs and eight RBIs in UH's three-game sweep at Utah State last week. Both of her homers came in a 14-2 win in UH's regular-season finale, bringing her season total to a UH record 18.
The junior passed the previous mark of 17 set by Stacey Porter in 2003.
Smethurst fired a six-inning no-hitter, the fourth of her career and first of the season, in an 11-0 win last Saturday. She struck out 10 and retired the last 16 batters in a row.
Lawler to defend title against Hose
Icon Sport world middleweight champion "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler returns to Hawaii to defend his belt against Waianae's Kala Kolohe Hose in the main event of Icon Sport's Fearless show June 30 at the Blaisdell Arena.
Hose has won three consecutive fights by knockout, including a 38-second pasting of Ron Verdadero last month. Lawler is now a top-10 ranked middleweight after his stunning fourth-round knock out of Frank Trigg in the last show. Poai Suganuma, Tyson Nam, Mark Oshiro and Mark Kurano are just some of the other fighters expected to compete on the card.
Leilehua grad enjoys solid tourney
Pikake Nutter-Gaudet (Leilehua '04) was named to the all-tournament team Sunday at the NCAA Division I independent women's softball tournament at Kennesaw, Ga.
A junior at Cal State Bakersfield, Nutter-Gaudet played mainly in the outfield, although she was recruited as a catcher from Taft College.
She hit .325, second best for the Roadrunners, and had a team-leading .456 slugging average. Nutter-Gaudet had six doubles, three triples, three homers and 21 RBIs for the 31-27-1 'Runners.
Rainbow Warriors drop a spot
The Hawaii men's volleyball team dropped one spot to 10th in the latest CSTV/AVCA Division I-II Top 15 coaches poll released yesterday.
Pepperdine earned 10 first-place votes and held on to the top spot. UC Irvine jumped a place to second and is followed by BYU, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA.
Hawaii sits 5 strokes behind Nevada
Hawaii's Pierre-Henri Soero sits in second place individually after firing a 4-under 68 in the opening round of the Western Athletic Conference golf championships in Reno, Nev.
As a team, the Warriors are at 283 and in third place. They are five shots behind Nevada, which leads the tournament that continues through tomorrow.
» The Rainbow Wahine golf team was selected to the NCAA West Regional, May 10-12, in St. George, Utah. Hawaii is the 13th seed in the regional. It's the first time in school history the Rainbow Wahine have been selected to the regional tournament.
2 Rainbow Warriors honored
Hawaii sophomore Sascha Heinemann and freshman Andreas Weber were both named to the All-WAC first team in singles yesterday.
Weber was also named freshman of the year and the duo earned second-team honors in doubles. Both are waiting for tomorrow's announcement as to whether they will be selected to the NCAA individual championships later this month.
Hayashi looks for 3-peat
Two-time defending champion Kevin Hayashi will go for the three-peat in the Aloha Section PGA's second major of the season this weekend.
The Hawaiian Telcom Hall of Fame Championship begins Saturday with a pro-am. The 36-hole stroke-play event will begin Sunday at 6:40 a.m.
Fifty-four island professionals will play for a purse of more than $20,000. The winner will take home $2,500.