It took a while, but Kaia Parnaby’s turn as mentor has finally arrived.
For her first three seasons, the left-hander from Australia was the younger member of the University of Hawaii pitching staff while four-year ace Stephanie Ricketts put together one of the most prolific careers in the softball program’s history.
With Ricketts completing her softball eligibility last year, Parnaby moves to the front of the rotation this spring while two freshmen make the adjustment to college ball.
"Now being the older one and trying to teach them the ways of how we play and how we do everything, it’s been kind of fun because we haven’t had any younger pitchers," Parnaby said.
Parnaby will take the ball first when the Rainbow Wahine open the season today against Ole Miss at 6 p.m. and UAB at 8 in the Oceanic Time Warner Cable Paradise Classic. She’ll begin the season sharing starts with freshman Keiki Carlos, a two-time All-State pitcher of the year at Mid-Pacific. Loie Kesterson, a freshman from Corona, Calif., completes this season’s staff.
"She’s such an inspiration for me and Loie," Carlos said of Parnaby. "Sometimes we’ll be totally lost in practice but she’ll be telling us what to do and really helping us."
UH’s pitching depth will be tested early, with at least five games and as many as seven in the three-day tournament at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, starting today with the program’s first season-opening doubleheader since 2007.
The Wahine, ranked 23rd and 25th in the preseason polls, face St. Mary’s (Calif.) and No. 16 Washington on Friday, with bracket play set for Saturday.
"The first two weeks are going to be real tests," UH coach Bob Coolen said, referring to this week’s tournament and the Easton Desert Classic next week in Las Vegas. "Then we’ll be able to take a breath and see where we’re at."
Parnaby went 16-3 with a 1.47 earned-run average while throwing 124 innings in 21 starts last season. Ricketts accounted for 226 innings in 37 starts a year ago while earning second-team NFCA All-America honors. Parnaby prepared for the anticipated increase in innings by ratcheting up her conditioning program over the winter.
"She’s gotten herself in optimal playing condition," Coolen said. "She went home over the break and did a lot of working out and got herself into good playing shape."
Parnaby said not having Ricketts around during practice has taken some getting used to, "but having Keiki and Loie, they’ve really stepped up," she said. "They’re going to be really good for us. They’ll take some innings and they know how to pitch.
"They’ve gotten so much stronger (since fall practice). … They’ve put in a lot of hard work just to step up their game because they know it’s not high school ball any more."
Carlos has aspired to pitch in college "since I first started when I was 9," and is scheduled to make her UH debut in today’s doubleheader. She is accustomed to pitching in Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium, where she helped MPI win the past two Division I state tournaments.
"You want to have pitchers come in that have the swagger on the mound and have that mound presence … Keiki has it right now," Coolen said.
Coolen said Carlos still has to continue to develop her repertoire to be effective at the college level and was introduced to Division I hitting while facing a UH lineup that features five returnees from one of the nation’s most productive offenses last season.
"In the beginning it was a little spooky, just because we’ve seen them on TV and here we are in real life pitching against them," Carlos said. "It’s an honor to be playing with them and for them to be helping me grow as a player."
Coolen nearing 800 wins
Coolen enters his 22nd season at UH two wins away from reaching 800 in his career in Manoa. UH is 798-454-1 since Coolen took over as head coach in 1992. He is 870-548-1 overall including his five-year head coaching stint at Bentley.
