WAC tournament champs — at last!

By Katie Grimes #21
Special to The Advertiser

Aloha,

The mood was somber as we began our warm-ups for WAC Championship Saturday. No one seemed really pumped for the game; it seemed like we were just there to play, as opposed to being there to win. At the start of the first game we were down 3-0 even before our first at-bat, which is a difficult thing to overcome, especially when playing a team like Fresno State. We stranded 14 runners on base throughout the whole game, but we kept on fighting. We made it all the way to the bottom of the seventh inning with two runners in scoring position, but we couldn't find a way to win. The one good thing about the first game is we battled hard the entire time. We came close so many times, but the ball just didn't seem to bounce our way. In the end it was all right because losing that first game gave us the fire and determination to come out ready for the second game.

We started the second game with the mindset that this was the last game of the tournament, and we had to find the will to win. In the top of the first inning our leadoff hitter, Kelly Majam, jacked a homerun to put us on the scoreboard, 1-0. Next thing you know, Amanda Tauali'i hit a grand-slam to put us up 6-0 still in the top of the first inning. I guess you could say, we were not happy about losing that first game, and we knew we had to start the second game off right. Kaia Parnaby pitched a great game and kept runners away from scoring positions. After a few more hits and a home run in almost every inning, we were ahead 14-0 going into the bottom of the fifth inning. In traditional Fresno State style, the Bulldogs did not give up, they put a couple of runners on base and finally scored on a three-run home run. After the final out was caught, we won 14-3. We all put on our tournament champion T-shirts and we were finally, for the first time in school history, WAC tournament champions. It took awhile to accomplish that task, but if there was any team that was going to do it, it was going to be the 2010 edition of the Rainbow Wahine. It feels great to be a part of the first team to win the WAC tournament for our program and hopefully it is the start of a trend that will last a long time. During the closing ceremony a few of our players were named to the All- Tournament team and Kelly Majam was named Tournament MVP. Congrats to everyone.

As Amanda Tauali'i and I were doing our video blog for the HawaiiAthletics.com website, in true champion's style, Amanda and I were "pied" in the face with shaving cream. As Jocelyn Enrique would say, "It's a champion's thing." It is an amazing feeling to be a champion and hopefully we can harness that momentum throughout the postseason.

Tomorrow we start the day off with a lifting session and some running. Thank you to New Mexico State for allowing us to use their facilities. It seems that one of our new team motto's is "Champions don't take days off." After our lift we will have our own time to do as we please, but at 8 p.m., we will sit down and anxiously watch the NCAA selection show to find out where our next destination will be. We are all very excited about the next leg of our trip ... but tonight, we are celebrating winning the school's first WAC tournament championship!!!