Tina Gonsalves graduated from St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Laurinberg, N.C., last month with a degree in history and will take a short hiatus before seeking her masters.
Making her best pitch
Tina Gonsalves has earned
Player of the Year honors in the
Carolina-Virginia Athletics Conference
Tina Gonsalves, a 2000 Sacred Hearts graduate from Kailua, has been chosen Female Athlete of the Year for the 11-college Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference.
Gonsalves, a senior softball pitcher-plus for St. Andrew's Presbyterian in Laurinberg, N.C., also was selected:
» CVAC conference softball Player of the Year by coaches.She was named CVAC Pitcher of the Week four times this past season and Player of the Week once.» on the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association College Division All-State Softball Team (covering about 75 NCAA Division II and III and NAIA colleges) by sports information directors.
» on the National FastPitch Coaches Association Division II South Atlantic Region second team by coaches.
In her final season, Gonsalves had a 1.19 earned-run average in 38 appearances, holding opponents to a .208 batting average. She had a 22-10 won-lost record with 32 complete games, eight shutouts, one save, and 213 strikeouts in 235 innings pitched.
When she didn't pitch, Gonsalves played first base or DH for St. Andrew's and batted .354 (56-for-158), with 32 RBIs, 31 runs, 10 doubles, six home runs, and a .532 slugging percentage in 45 games.
Her fielding percentage was .974.
She was among the top seven in the conference in six offensive categories and six pitching categories, including first in ERA, innings pitched, wins, strikeouts and shutouts.
Impressive statistics aside, St. Andrew's coach Steve Hernandez said Gonsalves' "positive personality is her biggest attribute.
"When she steps on the mound, she oozes confidence and energy, and the other girls rally around her and just feel like winning. She excels in the things that don't go in box scores."
Gonsalves graduated last month with a degree in history and plans to take a work break and help coach at St. Andrew's before seeking her masters.
She was already home in Kailua when the athlete of the year award was announced and she was informed in an early morning phone call from her boyfriend in North Carolina.
"I was tripping out," she said. "There are a lot of great athletes in our conference for all sports and this is a great honor."
In addition to her athletic awards, Gonsalves made the St. Andrew's Deans List for the first time this spring.
"I'm very humbled by all of this," she said.
Gonsalves' St. Andrew's senior classmate, Kim Makahilahila (Kamehameha '00 of Kailua), made a successful move from second base to first base and also was chosen first-team all-conference.
Makahilahila batted .313, with 42 runs produced (scored or driven in), 13 doubles and a .422 slugging average.
She was a second-team all-conference selection in volleyball last fall.
Makahilahila received St. Andrew's Outstanding Biology Student award when she graduated last month and got a scholar-athlete certificate from the Carolinas-Virginia conference for her overall 3.80 grade-point average.
Her next goal is to attend the John A. Burns Medical School at University of Hawaii.
Junior Mari Finn (Lahainaluna '01) did not win all-star honors, even though the shortstop and lead-off batter led St. Andrew's in eight offensive categories.
Finn was the shining Knight in batting average (.404), hits (57 in 45 games), on-base average (.485), and runs scored (29), plus three other categories.
More Honors
Junior swimmer Saree Ho'opi'i of Pukalani, Maui, was chosen Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year at Northern Colorado University.Ho'opi'i, who was a state high school swimming champion for Maui High in 1997 and '98, earlier was named Swimmer of the Year at the Midwest Classic in Indianapolis and was twice chosen Northern Colorado's female athlete of the month.
She won or helped win seven events at the Midwest Classic, breaking school records in the 50 freestyle (23.63), 100 backstroke (56.62) and 100 freestyle (51.26) and helping the 400 freestyle relay team set a record of 3:33.07, as Northern Colorado transitioned from NCAA Division II to Division I.
Two years ago, Ho'opi'i was chosen Northern Colorado's Freshman Female Athlete of the Year.
Tennis player Lezlie Imai-Okamoto (Baldwin '94) was the college's Senior Athlete of the Year in 1997-98.
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Johnson on staff
at WashingtonYou can expect the University of Washington to start recruiting women's volleyball players more vigorously in Hawaii.
Michael Johnson, a 1998 Kamehameha Schools graduate from Kahaluu, has been named assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for women's volleyball at Washington.
Johnson graduated from Washington last summer in chemical engineering after being player-coach-president of the men's club team and coach of the women's club team there. (Washington does not have men's varsity volleyball.)
In one year as women's club coach the team's ranking improved from 31 to 9 and he helped the men's team to a fifth-place finish in the 64-team national club tournament.
"He has some unique skills that will be of great use to our program and I expect him to make significant contributions in all areas, but specifically in the areas of recruiting and our ability to track the performance of the team and each player individually," head coach Jim McLaughlin said.
Ashley Aritani (Iolani '04) will walk on at Washington this fall.
Water polo
Included on the American Water Polo Coaches Association Women's All-Academic Team are:» Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sophomore Annie Richardson (Punahou '02 of Maunalani Heights) 3.53 GPA. Richardson is also an All-American and school record-holder in goals.
» Loyola Marymount sophomore Brianne Castillo-Huang (Iolani '02) 3.37. Her team went to the NCAA final four this spring.
» Hawaii junior Makana Whitford (Kahuku '01 of Laie) 3.25.
Softball
Included on the Easton All-American softball teams are:» California junior center fielder Kaleo Eldredge (Baldwin '01) and Brigham Young sophomore first baseman Ianeta Le'i (Iolani '02 of Mililani).
Eldredge also was second-team National Fast-Pitch Coaches Division I All-America and Le'i was Mountain West Conference Player of the Year.
The Easton team is chosen from the 29 college and junior college teams that use Easton equipment exclusively, a company spokeswoman said.
Eldredge was also chosen to the NCAA Women's College World Series all-tournament second team and Le'i also was chosen BYU Female Player of the Month for May.
