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Porter, Judd are Many urban legends have some truth to them. Consider the one concerning the two power hitters on the Hawaii softball team.
Sisters of Swat
The infielders from Australia have
rewritten the Wahine record bookBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comAssistant coach Dee Wisneski won't confirm -- but she definitely won't deny -- that smoke has been seen rising from the gloves of infielders who managed to snare the zingers off the bats of Kate Judd and Stacey Porter.
"All I can say is, if we're short for a scrimmage and I have to play infield, I'm protecting myself when those two come up," said Wisneski, a four-year starter at shortstop for Hawaii from 1992-95. "If I was the coach for the other team, I'd tell my third baseman to play back ... or get out of the way.
"They are both so strong, have such strong bats. When they connect, sometimes I do expect to see smoke when someone stops the ball."
Judd, a junior shortstop, and Porter, a sophomore first baseman, have solved the problem of the ball being stopped. They go deep ... over the fence.
The school record for home runs was nine ... and that is gone. Porter hit her 10th against San Jose State on March 29, Judd's 10th came on April 19 against Fresno State.
Porter has since lifted her total to 15, and Judd to 11, going into conference doubleheaders against Tulsa today and tomorrow. They wouldn't mind adding a few homers to their numbers if it means an NCAA tournament appearance.
The teams are tied for second place in the Western Athletic Conference at 13-7. Hawaii's basically been told that it would need to win at least three against the Golden Hurricane and finish in sole possession of second to earn a second consecutive postseason invitation.
"We've got the home crowd, TV, and hopefully, the men's volleyballers will be out here again," Judd said, referring to the newest NCAA champions at UH.
"We've gone to their games and they've come to ours," added Porter. "Of course, we don't make as big of an impact at their games as they do at ours."
Impact is the operative word when it comes to the two teammates off Australia's Under-19 National Team in 1999. Wahine coach Bob Coolen spotted the two at an open/under-19 event in Australia.
"I was looking for pitchers, but when I saw 'Juddie' play, I knew I had to have her," said Coolen. "I approached her about coming here out of high school and it was something novel for her. She hadn't been approached by anyone. She's a natural athlete with a cannon of an arm.
"And Porter was young, but you knew she was an emerging talent. She hit everything. I talked to both her and Felicity (Witt) about coming together."
Witt went 22-10 as a freshman last season but returned this year to pitch for the Australian national team. Porter finished her first Wahine season as the WAC Freshman of the Year, despite playing out of position; she had always played third prior to coming to Hawaii.
"Stacey will go back to third after (junior) Trisha Ramos graduates," said Coolen. "But she's quite impressive as a 6-foot first baseman.
"They both have good size (Judd is 5-10) and amazing physical attributes. You look for kids with that kind of size and power, but they usually don't come here. They just crush the ball."
The lure for the Australians -- and Hawaii has four this season -- is a college scholarship for doing what they love: Playing softball.
"In Australia, you don't get these kinds of opportunities every day," said Judd. "It's a huge party for us, getting to play and go to school."
Judd, majoring in exercise science, and Porter, a travel industry management major, both hope to make the Australian Olympic Team for the 2004 Games in Athens. When Sydney hosted the 2000 Olympics, Judd had tickets to the softball competition.
But the future is this weekend.
"We've swept (Tulsa) the past two years and there's no reason we shouldn't sweep them again," said Judd. "We've lost a couple we shouldn't have and it's been a matter of getting through the whole game. It seems at the end, it's a matter of getting too comfortable. We need to finish games."
"There's no reason we can't do it," said Porter. "We have everything going for us.
"Last year, I think we were just happy to be at the regionals. This year, we want to win. I hope this weekend is not the end of the season. There's no better reason to win than be able to keep the season going."
All-academic honors: Senior left fielder Stacie Hirano and Judd were named to the Verizon All-American District VIII first team yesterday.
Hirano has a 3.67 grade point average in business. The Hilo native is batting .282 with 15 RBIs. Judd has a 3.22 GPA in exercise science. She leads the Wahine in batting at .357 with 33 RBI. The two are eligible for national All-America honors. The team will be announced June 6.
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