Posts Tagged ‘UH Athletics’

The University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine softball team will go where no UH sports team has gone before… to the Espy’s. This year’s version of the softball team is nominated for an Espy Award – which is presented by ESPN. They are nominated in the category of “years best upset.”

This continues what has been a truly remarkable year for the Wahine softball team. Not only did they win the WAC regular season and tournament titles, they also went all the way to the women’s college world series, before being eliminated just short of the championships.

The walk-off three run homerun by Rodriguez against the #1 seeded Alabama Crimson Tide is the story that vaulted the Wahine into Espy nomination land. Rodriguez, Kelly Majam and head coach Bob Coolen will represent the team at today’s glitzy event at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.

With an entire state watching – as well as millions from around the world, the Wahine softball team will go up against other nominees which include Franke Edgar’s win over BJ Penn at UFC 112; Northern Iowa’s upset of Kansas in the NCAA basketball tournament; and Y.E. Yang’s win over Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship.

While all the nominees are certainly deserving, the only one that may truly stand in the way of the Wahine getting the award is the Northern Iowa win over Kansas in the NCAA basketball tournament. The reason for that may be from shear exposure of that upset, as opposed to exposure of the Wahine upset.

Whatever happens we wish the Wahine luck and hope they are able to bring the Espy home to Hawaii. Either way, it has been a fun ride.

Football season is just around the corner, and while there is not too much to be excited about for UH as far as the way the WAC is going, there is a possibility that the season opener with USC could be the most lucrative single game in the school’s history.

If UH sells out the game – or comes close to selling it out, then the school could pull in over $1.2 million on a single game. This would surpass the standing record of a little over $1.1 million set during USC’s last visit.

Things that are contributing to this? The main factor is the fact that UH has raised ticket prices for this one game. Sideline single-game tickets for the USC game only from $38 to $50 and student tickets from $8 to $15. Some premium locations also had changes. Another big contributor is the fact that USC travels well, and there are also plenty of USC fans in Hawaii.

With the interest in the Warriors opening game and how they will look, the first game for new USC coach Lane Kiffin, and the fact that USC has a ton of regulations levied against it, people are showing plenty of interest.

UH has already sold over 18,500 season tickets, which is a great number for them at this point of the year. The UH-USC game already has 30,000 tickets accounted for, which means with walk-up business – as well as more buyers in the next couple months, that this game has a good chance to sellout.

With all the bad news this offseason regarding the WAC, at least UH will make some money on their non-conference schedule. Get to these games and support the football team; otherwise you will just have WAC play to look forward to.

It is the end of spring and the beginning of summer. For University of Hawaii football this means the start of 11-on-11 scrimmages. What is missing? The coaches and trainers of course.

The NCAA allows football programs to set-up summer strength and conditioning programs, the catch?, coaches are not allowed to be anywhere near the practice vicinity. Yesterday the University of Hawaii football players were out in force as they started their strength and conditioning summer practices.

Everything is et-up before hand so the players know what drills to do and what to run, but it still takes leadership and dedication to pull something like this off. The players have to be dedicated and willing to take instructions from other players. So far – at least for Hawaii football, this has not been a problem.

Players are extremely excited for the upcoming season and are looking at this next year as a fresh start, one that will hopefully find themselves injury free and in contention for their first WAC title since 2007.

This is an exciting time of year for everyone involved in UH football. The season is around the corner and the players are looking to make a statement. This summer strength and conditioning period will serve to help them in the long run.

The man who is responsible for developing the run and shoot offense is coming back to the University of Hawaii football team as part of an attempt to bring the Warriors back to prominence. Mouse Davis will be the receiver’s coach, but will also serve as mentor to many of the players and staff.

Mouse is the original architect of the run and shoot offense, which has been utilized in Hawaii football since the June Jones first came to coach, and now with Greg McMackin and his current staff.

Utilizing this sort of offense allows smaller less skilled athletes to compete with the big boys and opens up the playing field like no other offense in football. During the June Jones years, Hawaii led the nation in either passing offense, total offense or both every year he was here. The offense is also famous for allowing good quarterbacks to become unstoppable offensive weapons.

Mouse stated that he is excited to be back in the islands and looks forward to all that there is left to accomplish with this team. He will be coaching the receivers and has said that Hawaii has a great stable of receivers that are all ready to go this year. Welcome back Mouse!

Record setting University of Hawaii football player Ashley Lelie will return to the Warriors as a student manager. Lelie is looking to complete his degree in History. He originally forfeited his senior year in school to apply for the NFL Draft in 2002.

Lelie says it feels good to be back in the game football, ”I was starting to miss it.” As a student manager, Lelie will be allowed to offer help to the current stable of UH wide receivers, as well as receive tuition waivers. Lelie claims to be excited to help the team out, and looks forward to the upcoming season.

Lelie was highly touted in 2002, which is the main reason he pulled out of school a year early. In 2002, he led AFC rookies in receiving yards (525). Two years later, he topped NFL receivers with an average of 20.1 yards per catch. Everything was adding up for Lelie to be one of the best receivers in the game. He had height, speed and agility.

The turning point for the worse came in 2006, when he staged a holdout. He was demoted to second-string by the Broncos and was also forced to pay back an option bonus. He eventually forced a trade and landed with the Atlanta Falcons. From there his reputation followed him to stops in San Francisco, Oakland and Kansas City, never again getting his feet under him.

Recognizing that it was time to move on, Lelie contacted current Uh coach Greg McMackin and the rest is history. Lelie says his main priority is to complete his degree in History, and says he wants to teach and coach someday.

The memorable seasons that the University of Hawaii men’s baseball team and women’s softball team put together this year came to and end this past weekend. Both teams battled hard but came up a little short when the games were over.

The Wahine softball team was eliminated in the College World Series by a very tough Arizona Wildcat team. The Hawaii men’s baseball team fell to nationally ranked #1 Arizona State, falling just one win short of going to the College World series.

Several NCAA records, as well as University of Hawaii records fell this year. The Baseball team won the WAC Tournament for the first time since 1992, and the softball team set records for homeruns in a single season and being the first Hawaii softball team to ever make it to the World Series.

Both University of Hawaii baseball and softball should be very proud of what they did. Men’s baseball got hot at the right time and made a great run deep into the tournament. Women’s softball was strong all year and set a record for wins in a single season as well.

The future looks very bright for both teams, as the Warrior baseball team brings back many of its players. Conversely, the Wahine softball team brings back everyone, and should be preseason ranked in the top 10.

Thank you Wahine and Warriors for taking us on a great ride! We look forward to seeing what you can do next year.

The stars must have been aligned the right way yesterday as the University of Hawaii experienced a historic day for two of it’s sports programs. On the heels of what has been a very disappointing year for Hawaii Sports, the Wahine Softball team and the Warrior Baseball team achieved historical feats. On the same day!

For the University of Hawaii Wahine Softball team it was a walk-off homerun against Alabama – the #1 team in the nation, which sent them to the College World Series. For the University of Hawaii Warrior Baseball team beating Fresno State in a third  – and decisive game, gave them the WAC Tournament Crown.

The Wahine’s Jenna Rodriguez launched a towering homerun ball that was seen around the nation – the Alabama, Hawaii Super Regional was televised on ESPN, that both silence the hostile Alabama home crowd, as well as stunned the ESPN announcers. The shot by Rodriguez upset the #1 team in the nation, and gave Hawaii Softball its first-ever trip to the World Series.

In Arizona – site of the WAC Tournament, the University of Hawaii Baseball Warriors beat four-time defending WAC Champion – and National Champion, Fresno State, in a decisive game three in the best of three series. This victory gave Hawaii its first WAC Championship since 1992. The Warriors will now wait to hear where they will be seeded and where they will play in the NCAA Tournament.

Excitement in the state is building for the programs as well. Not since 2007 when Colt Brennan and the Warrior Football Team played in the Sugar Bowl after an undefeated season, has there been this much excitement about sports in the air.

Conversely, these historic happenings seem to be bringing the state closer together – much like the Ewa Beach kids did in 2005 when they won the Little League World Series, as there is a certain excitement that resonates through everyone here as our teams try to do something that has never been done.

Congratulations to both the Wahine and the Warriors on their historical and improbable feats yesterday. We will be watching and cheering, hoping both of you will continue on this magical run, and bring us along with you for the ride.

The Magical season for the Hawaii Women’s Softball Team continued today in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In front of a hostile crowd, the Wahine hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 7^th inning to end the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide’s season. This marks the first time in Hawaii Softball history that they have advanced to the softball college world series.

After being blown-out 8-0 in game run of the best of three series, Hawaii started to relax and let the bats do the talking. They won game 2 yesterday 8-7, which forced a winner advance game 3 today.

All year Hawaii has lived and died by the homerun ball and today was no different. The Wahine has set an all-time NCAA mark for homeruns in a single season, adding to that total today.

After leading 3-1 through six innings, the Wahine almost let it slip away. In the top of the sixth, Alabama’s Whitney Larsen hit a towering 3-run homerun that put the Crimson Tide in front 4-3. Hawaii then came up to bat and struck-out three straight times.

After Hawaii’s Stephanie Ricketts came in to pitch and retired the Crimson Tide in order, setting up what was to be the greatest moment in Wahine Softball history.

Hawaii put the leadoff batter Kelly Majam on base as she drew a walk. They followed that by striking out twice. Then Jenna Rodriguez stepped to the plate. After fouling off a couple of pitches, Alabama cam in high and tight to Rodriguez and she turned on the pitch sending it down the left field line just inside the foul pole. Over 2,500 Alabama fans stood stunned at the turn of events. Rodriguez had given #16 Hawaii the walk-off win against #1 Alabama.

The Wahine now advance to the World Series where they will meet the winner of the Oregon – Missouri game. The Wahine continue to amaze and defy everything the critics say. Of course when you have the kind of power Hawaii has at their disposal, anything is possible.

At the time of this writing, Missouri held a substantial lead on Oregon. Possible match-ups…

Missouri is currently ranked 9^th

Oregon is unranked.

After a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 10^th inning Wed by University of Hawaii baseball standout Kolten Wong, the Bows followed with a slugfest against New Mexico St. Beating the New Mexico State Aggies 13-7 yesterday allowed the Baseball Bows to remain undefeated in WAC Tournament play.

The Rainbows have now carried their overall record to 31-25, and look very crisp right now on the field. This is the perfect time for the Bows to get hot because they will need to win the WAC Tournament in order to be invited to the NCAA’s.

The Bows put on an offensive show against the Aggies yesterday, with 7 different hitters all getting at least one RBI. They chased their run output with some decent overall pitching, as they were able to wiggle out of a couple of late innings jams to preserve the victory.

The Bows will now play Fresno State, who advanced to the winner’s bracket as well yesterday by defeating the San Jose State Spartans. Since Hawaii is still undefeated they can still lose a game and be in the tournament.

*Today’s game is at 4:30PM Hawaii time.

The University of Hawaii Wahine softball team swept its way through the West Regional’s this past week. They defeated UC Davis, Stanford and Texas Tech to win the West Regional and earn the right to advance to the NCAA Super Regional.

Standing in the Wahine’s way is powerful 3^rd ranked Alabama, the SEC champion. The Crimson Tide will come in with a record of 51-9, along with a 27 game winning streak – currently the longest in the nation.

The Wahine will be ready though as they come with an impressive record themselves 47-13. Hawaii has played Alabama 3 times before and lost all three contests, however, last time was an extra inning affair that Hawaii lost 1-0. The Wahine will need to bring their A-game if they are going to advance to the softball world series. Here is more info on the games, including where you can see them, go here. GO WAHINE!