Tuesday, June 19, 2001
[ SOFTBALL ]
Aussie team This is transition time for national teams in many sports. With the Olympics just completed, coaches and administrators say good-bye to aging heroes and restock with new talent they hope will peak at the next Games. Rosters undergo dramatic changes.
has distinct
Wahine tint
Former UH pitchers Wilkins
and Gentle and current shortstop
Judd are here for Hawaii CupBy Dave Reardon
dreardon@starbulletin.comWhere does that leave Brooke Wilkins, the former University of Hawaii star who has pitched on both bronze-medal-winning Australian Olympic softball teams?
She's not going anywhere, according to Australian head coach Simon Roskvist -- except to Athens in 2004.
"Brooke has had fantastic stats in the Olympics (1-0, 2 saves, 0.58 ERA in 12 innings at Sydney). It's our general intention that she will be one of our pitchers (in the next Olympics)," Roskvist said. "We selected this team with Athens in mind and the sole intention is to build up toward Athens."
"This team" is the 2001 Australian women's national softball squad, which is here to play China, Japan and the U.S. in the Hawaii Cup tournament, Thursday through Sunday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. This marks the first time the medal-round qualifiers at Sydney meet since last summer's Olympics.
Wilkins will be 30 in 2004 -- not young by softball standards, but not ancient, either. It just seems like a generation ago when she won 58 games in two seasons for the Wahine in 1994 and '95.
International Tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium Hawaii Cup
Thursday
>> China vs. Australia, 3 p.m.
>> USA vs. Japan, 5 p.m.
Friday
>> Australia vs. Japan, 3 p.m.
>> USA vs. China, 5 p.m.
Saturday
>> Japan vs. China, 3 p.m.
>> USA vs. Australia, 5 p.m.
Sunday
>> Bronze medal game, 1 p.m.
>> Gold medal game, 3 p.m.
This is the first time Wilkins will pitch at RWSS. As All-American baseball pitcher Derek Tatsuno's success helped spur the construction of Rainbow Stadium, the same can be said for Wilkins at some level. Wilkins' dominance took the Wahine to another level -- UH got its first national ranking and first two NCAA Tournament appearances while she was here.
She laughed, though, at the idea that RWSS is the House that Brooke Built.
Wilkins does agree that college softball has changed in the six years since she pitched for Hawaii.
"In a way, it's been a long time. The bats have changed, hitting is a big part of the game," she said yesterday before Australia's first practice. "It's good to come back. The people here are very friendly, as they always are."
Wilkins is in her final year of study at Queensland University of Technology for a degree in education. She said she had to start over after UH, as none of her credits transferred.
She is joined on the Australian team by Kelly Gentle -- another former UH pitcher -- and Kate Judd, Hawaii's current starting shortstop.
Gentle said Wilkins continues to be a role model for her.
"I've pretty much tried to copy her through my career," said Gentle, whose name and uniform number joins that of Wilkins on the RWSS left-field wall.
Gentle replaced current UH pitcher Felicity Witt on the roster. Witt is injured.
Roskvist said that Gentle and Judd are not add-ons to the roster to attract fans in Hawaii.
"Kelly was a bit of an outsider for some years, but she's stepped right up," Roskvist said. "With her velocity, we know she can do the things to help us, and she's worked on her control. Her national call-up was in response to that. (That she played for) Hawaii was an afterthought."
Judd has been a national player since her teen years. Being named Western Athletic Conference player of the year this past season didn't hurt, either.
"She's been in our system since 1995 and did very well with our under-19 team in 1999," Roskvist said. "We definitely see her as a player with a long future in Australian colors."
And with UH infielder Stacey Porter on the nation's development squad, the Australians in Athens could have quite a Hawaii hue, too.