[ WAHINE SOFTBALL ]

Hawaii blindsided
by loss of 2 Staceys

Lose the career home run leader, gain a 40-foot-high outfield fence.

No one would blame Bob Coolen for thinking he got the short end of that twin-bill. But sometimes that's the way the ball bounces in collegiate softball.

Expect the unexpected and disappointment will be kept to minimum. Still, the loss of Stacey Porter, an All-Western Athletic Conference first baseman, set the Hawaii softball coach back on his heels a bit.

Porter, who took last spring off to play for the Australian national and Olympic teams, had promised to come back for this, her senior season. She called in mid-October to say she wouldn't be coming back.

Another departure was that of infielder Stacey Ritter, who graduated a semester early in order to attend nursing school.

"Those are huge losses for us," Coolen said. "But it does two things. It has opened the way for a lot of the freshmen to have impact seasons. And it gave us reduced numbers. We have 18 players instead of the 22 to 23 we'd normally carry and they are all going to serve some type of role."

Western Athletic Conference coaches feel there is at least one impact freshman on the Rainbow Wahine roster. Kamehameha Schools product Kate Robinson, an All-State utility player (first base-pitcher) was selected to the preseason All-WAC team this week.

Coolen expects to use Robinson quite a bit at first base, helping to spell returning sophomore Tyleen Tausaga, "who ran out of gas at the end of last season," Coolen said. "But Tyleen was one of the best pushers and drivers in our offseason conditioning. I think it woke up the freshmen. The thinking is if we work hard enough, hopefully the injuries won't bug us like last year."

Hawaii's hopes to rebound from its first losing season (28-33) in 12 years ride on the arms of seniors Melissa Coogan (11-18) and Shannon Tabion (16-10). Backing them up are Robinson and junior Paula Blanning (1-4).

"Our success will revolve around the healthiness of our pitchers," Coolen said. "If our pitching comes around, defensively we should be OK. But we need to hit. You can't hit .245 and win too many ball games."

The Wahine were picked to finish third in the preseason coaches poll this week. It's a good spot to be in, according to their 14th-year coach.

"I don't know if we're a year away from contending," he said. "I feel like if we're healthy, we can contend. It will be one of those silent endeavors. We aren't going to come out and smoke a lot of people. Hopefully, we'll come out and play consistent ball."

Hawaii opens with its alumnae game on Jan. 29, followed by its five-team Paradise Classic on Feb. 3-6.

It's one of the earliest tournaments in the country and its scheduling would be affected should the collegiate softball coaches follow the path that their baseball counterparts may take. The baseball proposal has a start-of-play date of March 1.

"We're still in the discussion stage," Coolen said. "They wanted to piggyback the seasons with baseball, but the NFCA (National Fast-Pitch Coaches Association) said, 'We're not backing that. It's unrealistic for softball.'"

The controversial proposal also includes a reduction in the number of games -- opposed by the national Student-Athlete Council -- and a change in how tournament games are counted. Currently, a tournament day, which has a team playing two or three games, counts as one game; the change would have each game count.

But for now, the only changes are in the Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium outfield. The backdrop has changed, due to the completion of the new tennis complex, and there's a 40-foot-high fence running from left field to center field to protect tennis-court users.

It probably should have been built higher. According to Coolen, junior infielder Ashley Ruff has been "bombing them over the net in practice."