PHOTO COURTESY HAWAII PACIFIC ATHLETICS
Kristin Fujii will walk away from her softball career as the top home run hitter in Hawaii Pacific's history.
Chasing history
HPU outfielder Kristin Fujii took four
years to break the school's home run
record, but she finally hit No. 11Division II stats Hawaii Pacific outfielder Kristin Fujii knows more than a little bit about building suspense.
Fujii hit the 11th home run of her career last week, beating the school's record set by Karen Masuda in 1988. It took Fujii four years to Masuda's two, but the record finally fell when Fujii connected off Biola's Jennifer Gray on Monday.
"I don't know how old that record was," Fujii said. "I only know it was pretty old. I just try to put the ball in play and home runs just happen."
The frustrating part for those watching the chase is that sometimes home runs don't happen, especially in collegiate softball.
Fujii was supposed to break the record early last year, but her power disappeared as quickly as it surfaced. She hit six homers in her freshman year and half that as a sophomore to stand two dingers away with two full seasons to go. Then people started reminding her of what she had a chance to do, and she went homerless through her junior season. Just when the suspense died down, she went deep off Brigham Young-Hawaii's Lisa Hanson at Laie to tie the record and get students on Fort Street Mall whispering about softball between classes. Fujii gave the whispers enough time to build into a roar.
"Everybody would tell me, 'Today is the day. Just hit it' " Fujii said. "My teammates, family, even Chuck (Miske) on the radio would talk about it. They all were hoping I could break it, but it put me into a little bit of a slump."
Fujii still hit the ball, but not for the power that she was supposed to. She says her approach has always been to take what the pitcher gives her. It just so happens that pitchers have given her more home runs than they've given anyone else. Fujii went her next 30 at-bats without hitting one out before she belted a long line drive to deep centerfield at Howard's Hideaway, Hawaii Pacific's home field in Kaneohe.
What happened next depends on your perception.
Fujii tagged the ball for what she -- and those who were rooting for her -- believed was the record breaker. But as she was rounding the bases, the umpire signaled the shot a ground-rule double, saying that the ball bounced over the fence off the soft grass in centerfield. After being told that even a Bumble wouldn't bounce in Okita's pride and joy -- Hawaii Pacific coach Howard Okita says he has never seen a ball scale his wall on a bounce -- the umpire changed her explanation, saying that the ball must have rolled under the fence.
No matter what happened, Fujii didn't get the home run she needed and started pounding the ball, earning eight hits in her next 13 at-bats and driving in seven runs. Then the record reared its ugly head and put Fujii in the worst slump of her career. It wasn't just that she wasn't hitting for power; it was that she wasn't hitting at all. She hit .115 in her next 17 games, and began to wonder if it was all even worth it.
It took her back to the days earlier in her career when she would hit a slump, and it would bother her so much that she would consider quitting. But quitting was never an option, going back to her formative days in the sport. As long as her parents, Milton and Joanne, continue to care about her career to make every game, she will be out there playing.
"Nothing goes your way," Fujii said. "You get calls against you and you wonder if you want to even go on.
"But my mom would never let me quit. She knows when to show sympathy and when to say, 'Don't give up. Life is meant to be hard so suck it up.' At the time it was not what I was looking for, but it made me stronger."
Fujii broke out of the slump in a grand way Monday, ending all of the suspense -- she only had one more week to go in her career -- with a monster shot that had her relieved and her teammates overjoyed.
"That was a shot," Okita said. "You could tell it was gone the minute she hit it. I told her, 'Your swing was so smooth and so sweet' there was no doubt about it."
With her Sea Warriors sitting 10th in the regional rankings and only the top six getting berths into the regional, Fujii's career will likely wrap up at home Sunday. But she will still be a part of the program, perhaps be on the field when her record is broken. Fujii will join Okita's staff as a graduate assistant next year.
"Next year I want to get my MBA, but I will still come to the field and help out the coach," Fujii said. "Anything to give back to the program."
She says she won't get a chance to really think about the record until then, but when she does it will always surprise her. She was recruited out of Roosevelt as a pitcher and showed no signs of such power until her first year in college. Even now, she hits sixth in the lineup to protect her more powerful teammates.
"It does surprise me actually," Fujii said. "I never thought I could do all of this."
Fujii file
An up-close and personal look at Kristin Fujii>> Age: 21
>> Height: 5-foot-5
>> Class: Senior
>> Position: Outfield
>> Home runs: 11
>> Batting Average: .255
>> Major: Business
>> Awards: All-PacWest second team; Academic All-Conference as a junior.Accomplishments
>> Recruited as a pitcher, Fujii is 2-1 with a 2.76 ERA in 26.1 innings in college.
>> Only missed three starts in her collegiate career
>> Pitched Roosevelt to the state tournament in her sophomore, junior and senior years.
HPU Sports
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[ TOP PERFORMERS ]
>> Jan Krejci and Adrienn Hegedus, Brigham Young-Hawaii tennis: The sophomores from Hungary were named the PacWest's Players of the Year for the second straight year after leading the Seasiders to a sweep of the conference.>> Kayla Kahuli, Hawaii-Hilo softball: Kahuli broke the spell Western New Mexico had on the Vulcans last week, pounding Angela Slaugh for a 3-run pinch-hit home run in a 9-4 win. Slaugh went into the game as the PacWest's best pitcher, winning the conference's weekly honor three times.
[ SCOREBOARD ]
Coming up
Today
Softball: Hawaii-Hilo at MSU-Billings
Softball: Western New Mexico at Mountain Dew Classic (Bakersfield, CA)
Tomorrow
Softball: Hawaii-Hilo at MSU-Billings
Softball: Hawaii Pacific at Chaminade
Softball: Western New Mexico at Mountain Dew Classic (Bakersfield, CA)
Sunday, April 27
Softball: Chaminade at Hawaii Pacific
Softball: Western New Mexico at Mountain Dew Classic (Bakersfield, CA)
Friday, May 2
Softball: MSU-Billings vs. Western New Mexico (at Colorado Springs)
Tennis: Regional tournament at Laie, BYU-Hawaii- Sonoma State, UH-Hilo-UC San Diego (women)
Tennis: Regional tournament at Pomona, Calif.; Cal Poly Pomona-Grand Canyon, Hawaii Pacific-UC Davis (women)
Tennis: Regional tournament at Laie, Hawaii-Hilo-UC davis (men)
Tennis: Regional final at San Diego, UC san Diego- Hawaii Pacific(men)
Saturday, May 3
Softball: MSU-Billings vs. Western New Mexico (at Colorado Springs)
Tennis: Regional final at Pomona, Calif.; Cal Poly Pomona-Grand Canyon winner vs. Hawaii Pacific-UC Davis winner (women)
Tennis: Regional tournament at Laie, BYU-Hawaii- Sonoma State winner vs. UH-Hilo-UC San Diego winner(women)
Tennis: Regional final at Laie, BYUH vs. UH-Hilo-UC Davis winner(men)
SOFTBALL
PacWest Overall W-L Ptc. W-L Ptc. Western New Mexico 14-2 .875 44-7 .863 Hawaii-Hilo 11-4 .733 28-17 .622 BYU-Hawaii 8-10 .444 20-24 .455 Hawaii Pacific 6-8 .429 28-20 .583 Mont. St.-Billings 3-9 .250 12-15 .444 Chaminade 4-12 .250 11-32 .256 Batting leaders
Batting avg
Shellie Broyles, WNMU .463 Stephanie Cochrun, MSUB .419 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU .418 Nancy Vega, Hilo .369 Holly Garcia, HPU .366 Jamie Reyes, HPU .345 Kayla Kahuli, Hilo .329 Jessica Garcia, WNMU .329 Theresa Campbell, MSUB .328 Layne Pavey, MSUB .327 Slugging pct
Shellie Broyles, WNMU .756 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU .601 Layne Pavey, MSUB .538 Holly Garcia, HPU .522 Stephanie Cochrun, MSUB .516 Wendy Layton, Hilo .504 Pua Reis, Chaminade .490 Nancy Vega, Hilo .486 Erin Castillo, Hilo .472 Jennifer Baron, HPU .472 On base pct
Shellie Broyles, WNMU .500 Stephanie Cochrun, MSUB .471 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU .446 Jennifer Baron, HPU .438 Holly Garcia, HPU .428 Nancy Vega, Hilo .418 Kim Fukumoto, HPU .417 Lori Browning, WNMU .416 Jessica Garcia, WNMU .416 Thersea Campbell, MSUB .409 Runs scored
Shellie Broyles, WNMU 47 Jessica Garcia, WNMU 36 Bethany Harris, WNMU 32 Brandy Choy Foo, HPU 31 Lori Browning, WNMU 26 Danielle Harmon, WNMU 25 Debbie Yescas, WNMU 24 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU 23 Rachel Stahle, WNMU 23 Tascha Berinobis, HPU 22 Hits
Shellie Broyles, WNMU 74 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU 64 Holly Garcia, HPU 49 Jessica Garcia, WNMU 47 Tascha Berinobis, HPU 45 Runs batted in
Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU 50 Shellie Broyles, WNMU 45 Holly Garcia, HPU 30 Debbie Yescas, WNMU 29 Kristin Fujii, HPU 28 Tascha Berinobis, HPU 26 Bethany Harris, WNMU 26 Wendy Layton, Hilo 26 Jessica Garcia, WNMU 25 Nancy Vega, Hilo 22 Home runs
Shellie Broyles, WNMU 8 Pua Reis, Chaminade 6 Debbie Yescas, WNMU 5 Erin Castillo, Hilo 4 Wendy Layton, Hilo 4 Loihi McKeague, Chaminade 4 Stolen bases
Danielle Harmon, WNMU 12 Brandy Choy Foo, HPU 11 Jamie Reyes, HPU 8 Rachel Stahle, WNMU 7 Lori Browning, WNMU 7 Pitching leaders
Earned run avg
Angela Slaugh, WNMU 0.45 Leo Sing Chow, Hilo 0.58 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU 1.06 Tara Martinez, Hilo 1.41 Sarah Steele, Hilo 1.85 Joey Ehnes, MSUB 2.13 Malia Sullivan, HPU 2.23 Jessica Parra, HPU 2.31 Lisa Hansen, BYUH 2.47 Kristine Kahoalii, Hilo 2.48 Strikeouts
Angela Slaugh, WNMU 257 Tiffany Mondhink,WNMU 142 Leo Sing Chow, Hilo 65 Megan McCrae, MSUB 64 Donnell Wittekind, Chaminade 57 Jessica Parra, HPU 45 Kristine Kahoalii, Hilo 43 Lisa Hansen, BYUH 43 Joey Ehnes, MSUB 41 Malia Sullivan, HPU 40 Wins
Angela Slaugh, WNMU 24 Tiffany Mondhink, WNMU 19 Leo Sing Chow, Hilo 13 Malia Sullivan, HPU 12 Echo Hatch, BYUH 9 Jessica Parra, HPU 9 Saves
Angela Slaugh, WNMU 1 Tara Martinez, Hilo 1
