Rainbow Wahine dominate All-WAC softball

UH sweeps All-WAC honors

It's been a record season so far for the Hawaii softball team, seeded first for the first time in this week's Western Athletic Conference tournament.

The Rainbow Wahine have already set school marks for best regular-season (45-9) and WAC (16-2) records, as well as home runs, RBIs and runs scored.

Yesterday, Hawaii hit another mark by sweeping all four of the top WAC honors: Tyleen Tausaga (Player of the Year), Kate Robinson (Pitcher of the Year), Bob Coolen (Coach of the Year), and Katie Grimes (Freshman of the Year). The Rainbow Wahine had 10 players named to the All-WAC teams.

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Just as they dominated this season, the Hawaii softball team dominated the Western Athletic Conference awards, which were announced yesterday.

The 12th-ranked Rainbow Wahine (45-9, 16-2 WAC) swept the top four honors -- pitcher, player, freshman and coach of the year -- and placed five players on the first team and five on the second. It was the first time since Fresno State in 1999 that one team earned all four major awards.

Leading the way was senior first baseman Tyleen Tausaga, named Player of the Year as well as a first-team selection for the fourth straight year. The Kaimuki graduate hit .408 with 50 RBIs.

Junior Kate Robinson was named Pitcher of the Year and also first team at utility. The Kamehameha Schools product is 15-0 overall, 8-0 in the WAC, with a league-leading 1.15 ERA (1.56 overall). She has allowed just 94 hits in 116.1 innings with 91 strikeouts. Robinson, who also plays first base, has set school records for home runs (18) and RBIs (65).

Coach of the Year honors went to Bob Coolen (723-459-1) for the third time in his 21 seasons at Manoa.

Freshman of the Year went to catcher Katie Grimes.

Junior outfielder Kaulana Gould (Kamehameha) was also named to the first team for the third consecutive year. Joining her were Australian national Clare Warwick, a sophomore third baseman, and Kealakehe product Alana Power, a senior second baseman.

Named to the second team were: Grimes, who is from Florida; junior shortstop Valana Manuma out of Kapolei; sophomore outfielder Tanisha Milca, a Kailua graduate; Kamehameha's Brandi Peiler, a junior outfielder; and sophomore pitcher Justine Smethurst, who is from Australia.

The top-seeded Rainbow Wahine were scheduled to start WAC Tournament play this morning in Fresno, Calif., against Louisiana Tech, an 8-1 winner over Utah State yesterday.

SOFTBALL

All-WAC Team

Player of the year--Tyleen Tausaga, Hawaii.

Pitcher of the year--Kate Robinson, Hawaii.

Fresman of the year--Katie Grimes, Hawaii.

Coach of the year--Bob Coolen, Hawaii.

FIRST TEAM

Name	School	Year	Pos.
Nichole Willis	Fresno St.	Sr.	c
Tyleen Tausaga	Hawaii	Sr.	1b
Jenna Cervantez	Fresno St.	So.	2b
Clare Warwick	Hawaii	So.	3b
Haley Perkins	Fresno St.	So.	ss
Kaulana Gould	Hawaii	Jr.	OF
Liz Perez	San Jose St.	Jr.	OF
Brittany Puzey	Nevada	So.	OF
Kate Robinson	Hawaii	Jr.	UT
Jamie Fife	Utah St.	Sr.	DP
Robin Mackin	Fresno St.	So.	P

SECOND TEAM

Name	School	Year	Pos.
Katie Grimes	Hawaii	Fr.	c
Kristin Sylvester	Fresno St.	Jr.	1b
Kym Silagyi	Nevada	So.	2b
Stephanie Herrera	New Mexico St.	Jr.	3b
Valana Manuma	Hawaii	Jr.	ss
Sarah Hunt	Nevada	So.	OF
Tanisha Milca	Hawaii	So.	OF
Brandi Peiler	Hawaii	Jr.	OF
Merryann Barr	Fresno St.	So.	UT
Michelle Beach	Nevada	So.	DP
Justine Smethurst	Hawaii	Fr.	P