Malia Xiao Gin attended youth camps on the Cal Poly campus early in a softball odyssey that would lead her from California’s Central Coast to the Pacific Northwest, then on to the middle of the Pacific.
Now the University of Hawaii softball team’s starting shortstop, Gin will make her first competitive appearance at Bob Janssen Field in her return home to San Luis Obispo, Calif., for this weekend’s Big West series between the Rainbow Wahine and Cal Poly.
“I’m really excited to go back home,” Gin said this week. “I’m excited to see my family. I know some of my extended family is planning to be there and I haven’t played in front of them since high school. So that will be really exciting for them and for myself.”
The Rainbow Wahine (22-13, 5-4 Big West) and Mustangs (10-14, 3-6) play a single game today and wrap up the series with a doubleheader on Saturday.
This week’s series is also a homecoming for freshman pitcher Key-annah Campbell-Pua, who grew up in nearby Nipomo, Calif.
Gin enrolled at UH in the fall as a graduate transfer from Oregon State and has helped solidify the middle of the Wahine infield while hitting in the leadoff spot for all 35 games this season.
She enters the weekend hitting .294 with an on-base percentage of .429 and UH coach Bob Coolen noted Gin’s “awareness and the sense of the game” while working with second baseman Maya Nakamura in the middle of the UH infield.
Gin’s arrival in Manoa continued the trend of Rainbow Wahine shortstops with Pac-12 experience. She stepped into the spot vacated by Nawai Kaupe, who transferred from Washington and closed her three-year UH career as the Big West Defensive Player of the Year.
“Xiao has been a godsend for us because replacing Nawai was going to be critical,” Coolen said.
Gin earned all-county honors at San Luis Obispo High School and signed with Oregon State. She made 84 starts with the Beavers over two seasons, primarily at second base, and capped her run in the program with a trip to last year’s Women’s College World Series in Oklahoma City.
“It’s just surreal,” Gin said. “That’s every 8-year-old’s dream. I remember looking at the TV and I told my parents, ‘I want to go there one day.’ They told me it’s going to be hard work and I’m grateful I was able to go there. It was just like a dream and I always hold that moment close to my heart.”
She earned a degree in kinesiology in three years, graduating summa cum laude, and considered returning home to continue her academic and softball careers. But Cal Poly didn’t offer a graduate program in her field and memories of a visit to Hawaii in 2020 contributed to her decision to transfer to UH.
“I remember playing out here my freshman year and I loved it,” said Gin, who went 3-for-4 in the leadoff spot in a 2-1 Oregon State win over UH in the 2020 Outrigger Malihini Kipa Aloha Tournament.
“I just remember how much fun the girls were having in the dugout and I kept that in the back of my head. Once I had the opportunity to graduate, I thought why not take a leap of faith and just go for it and see where that would lead me.”
Gin contributed to a clean defensive performance in stringing 14 zeros together in last Saturday’s doubleheader sweep against UC San Diego. Campbell-Pua went the distance in a 2-0 win in the opener and sophomore left-hander Brianna Lopez followed with her first career no-hitter in a 3-0 victory that gave the Wahine the series win.
“Key and Bri both pitched amazing, and to have those wins on Saturday was how we wanted to bounce back from Friday (a 4-1 loss),” Gin said. “We’re just trying to back up our pitchers and get an out any way we can. We know they’re working extremely hard.”
Big West softball
At San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Hawaii (22-13, 5-4 BWC) at Cal Poly (10-14, 3-6)
>> When: Today, 2 p.m.; Saturday (doubleheader), 11 a.m.
>> Online: ESPN+
