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Monday, May 8, 2000

HPU waiting on
postseason invite

By Brandon Lee
Special to the Star-Bulletin

The Hawaii Pacific University softball team showed its youth, while Humboldt State demonstrated its experience, in what amounted to be the championship game of the Pacific West Conference postseason tournament on Saturday at HPU Windward Field.

The defending NCAA Division II national champion Lady Jacks used a last-inning rally, aided by a couple of mental lapses by the Sea Warriors, to win the title, 2-1.

HPU, ranked 24th nationally, was to learn today whether it would receive an at-large bid to this week's NCAA-II West Regional.

Already with one loss in the tournament, the Sea Warriors would have had to beat the undefeated the Lady Jacks twice in the double-elimination. Humboldt State needed only one win over the Sea Warriors.

The top-seeded Lady Jacks succeeded in their first attempt, capturing the PacWest crown with a 3-0 record at the tournament.

The Sea Warriors finished the tournament at 2-2 and are now 36-14 on the season.

After surrendering a run in the top of the first on a wild pitch, Lumberjacks first-team All-American Jessame Kendall settled down and held the Sea Warriors scoreless on one hit the rest of the way.

In the bottom of the seventh, the Lumberjacks led off with two consecutive singles, then advanced the runners to second and third with a sacrifice bunt.

After an intentional walk to load the bases with one out, the next Lady Jacks batter popped a fly ball in foul territory along the left-field line. Instead of letting the ball drop foul, the leftfielder caught the ball for the out, allowing the runner on third to tag and score the tying run.

"We always try to teach our kids to be students of the game," Sea Warriors coach Howard Okita said. "At that particular time, she shouldn't have caught the ball, but that's how it goes sometimes."

After another intentional walk to reload the bases, Lumberjacks pinch-hitter Sarah Delsman hit a sharp grounder to Sea Warriors shortstop Holly Garcia. Garcia fielded the ball cleanly but no one was covering first. Garcia was forced to hold the ball and watch the winning run cross the plate.

"It's been a very positive season and we (the coaches) have no complaints," said Okita, whose roster included seven freshman and four sophomores. "We thought we would do pretty well because of our pitching, and everyone took their play a level higher from where they started at the beginning of the season."

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