Katie Grimes, to be sure, is a skilled catcher.

At age 15, she caught a 200-pound game fish.

"It took me 45 minutes to reel it in," said Grimes, whose family fishes off the Florida coast. "It was fun, though."

For the Hawai'i softball team, Grimes is a catcher known for her expertise in handling the pitching staff. She calls all of the pitches.

After this past weekend's three-game sweep of Utah State, Grimes is now a key contributor to a once slumbering offense.

Against the Aggies, Grimes went 5 for 8 with three RBIs and a bases-empty home run, raising her average in Western Athletic Conference games from .214 to .306.

"That's quite a jump for one weekend," UH coach Bob Coolen said.

As a result, Grimes yesterday was named the WAC's Hitter of the Week.

Grimes traces her improved hitting to a revised hitting approach. Assistant coach John Nakamura instructed the right-handed Grimes to scrap the long, looping swing in favor of a slap-hitting approach. The new technique relies on the hands, not the arms, to guide the swing. The shorter swing makes it easier to time the pitch.

"She pulls her front shoulder out so much that she wants to pull everything," Coolen said. "By getting into a slap rhythm, it gets her hands to the ball. It gives her a lot more power to push and drive. ... You don't get fooled by any pitches, the change-ups. There's no mystery to it because you're on (the pitcher's) rhythm. However slow or fast they throw the ball, that's how fast your hands are."

At first, Grimes was hesitant about going with the new approach. But Coolen kept signaling until she agreed.

"For me personally, it helps me stay down on the ball, don't move around too much, stop thinking," she said. "My pitch selections are a lot better. It seems to be working."

Grimes, a sophomore, contacted UH after visiting her uncle, who lives on the North Shore, during the summer before her senior year.

"I had mixed feelings about whether I wanted to stay (in Florida) or go away," she said. "I really loved it here."

Grimes joined the Rainbow Wahine as a walk-on in August 2006. Two seasons later, she still does not have a scholarship, although one is promised for next year.

"My mom is a great person," Grimes said of Gina Grimes, who is a lawyer in Tampa. "She works really hard for her money. She had to pay for college all by herself. She took every single loan for undergrad and law school. She made a goal for herself she wouldn't make her kids do the same thing. She helps me out with everything. A lot of people are deceived because I have nice things and I get to do a lot of awesome things. But that's because she works so hard."

Grimes will lead the Rainbows when they host the WAC tournament, beginning tomorrow at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.

The third-seeded Rainbows open the double-elimination tournament against Louisiana Tech.