Senior day at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium will end with the traditional celebration of the honorees’ University of Hawaii careers.
The festivities will begin by recognizing those who’ve supported the five Rainbow Wahine seniors well before they set foot on campus.
On the day before Mother’s Day, each of the UH seniors will have their mom or grandmother join them on the field to throw out the ceremonial first pitches prior to Saturday’s senior day doubleheader against Big West leader Cal State Fullerton.
“It’s definitely going to be a very emotional moment for all of us,” UH center fielder Brittnee Rossi said.
“My mom has been my cheerleader since day one when I started playing when I was eight years old. She still is and I’m 22 years old and she’s still my biggest fan and my biggest cheerleader.”
Rossi holds the distinction of the program’s longest tenured player as the last member of the 2018 Wahine freshman class on this year’s roster. Pitcher Ashley Murphy, outfielder Mikaela Gandia-Mak and catcher Kaeli Bush enrolled at UH for the 2019 season and shortstop Nawai Kaupe joined the program as a transfer from Washington in 2020.
Rossi credited Murphy for the idea to have their moms open UH’s final home date of the season and enters senior weekend grateful for the inspiration provided by her parents, Julie and Phil Rossi, in signing with Hawaii coming out of San Benito High School in Hollister, Calif.
“When I originally committed, I was so scared,” Rossi said. “That was a huge decision and I was very anxious about it and not sure what I wanted to do.
“Thankfully my parents pushed me along and helped me understand this is probably going to be the best decision of my life. Because instead of just staying close to home, it allowed me to grow as a person and as a young woman.”
‘To go from being a freshman to being a fifth-year senior, I feel I have grown up a lot character-wise. I became a lot more independent and just figuring things out along the way without my parents there holding my hand.”
Rossi and Kaupe have held the top spots in the UH batting order for much of the past three seasons. Rossi established herself as a mainstay in the outfield as a freshman and Kaupe has provided a slick glove and powerful bat since her arrival.
Kaupe enters the series with Cal State Fullerton hitting .336 and leads the Big West with 11 home runs. Her sixth-inning homer in last Saturday’s series finale at Long Beach State sparked a six-run UH rally and the Wahine snapped a six-game losing streak against the Beach and won in Long Beach for the first time since 2016 with the 6-5 victory.
“It meant a lot especially coming from last season when they absolutely blew us out,” Rossi said. “It sat with me all the way through fall, all the way until we ended up playing them again last week. It was awesome to finally get that win against them.”
The Wahine (19-17, 13-8 Big West) close the home schedule against a Cal State Fullerton team that has won the past 16 meetings with UH dating back to 2016. The Titans (34-16, 18-3) enter today’s series opener three games ahead of second-place Long Beach State with UH five games back with six to play.
Freshman Brianna Lopez (11-7) is second in the Big West with a 2.15 earned-run average atop the pitching rotation and Murphy (4-4, 4-2 BWC) is slated to get the start in the middle game of the series. Murphy picked up the win at LBSU in relief of Lopez, who later re-entered to earn the save.
Although the odds of catching the Titans in the standings appear daunting, UH coach Bob Coolen said the Wahine are “going in with the mindset that we’re going to compete. Nothing’s changing.”
UH closes the regular season next week with a series at UC Davis.
BIG WEST SOFTBALL
At Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
Cal State Fullerton (34-16, 18-3 BWC) vs. Hawaii (19-17, 13-8)
>> When: Today, 6 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. (doubleheader)
>> TV: Spectrum Sports
