Seven members of last season’s University of Hawaii softball team have been named Easton/National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division I Scholar-Athletes.
The NFCA list honors players with a grade-point average of 3.50 for the 2015-16 academic year.
Senior right fielder Keiki Carlos and sophomore pitcher Brittany Hitchcock earned the distinction for the third time in their UH careers and junior pitcher Kanani Aina Cabrales made the list for the second time. Third basemen Nicole Lopez and Carly Pina, pitcher Naomi Monahan and outfielder Alia Monges picked up the academic honor as freshmen, raising the number of UH players named to the national list to 38.
Carlos graduated in the spring with a degree in family resources. Hitchcock is also a family resources major, while Aina Cabrales is majoring in business administration. Lopez was also named Big West Freshman of the Year in the spring.
The Rainbow Wahine open fall practice on Monday and host Chaminade and BYU Hawaii in the Kama’aina Classic Nov. 4-5.
Waianae’s Doane weighs in for UFC 204
Despite taking the fight on four days’ notice, Waianae’s Russell Doane made weight at 145 pounds on Friday for his featherweight bout against undefeated Mirsad Bektic to open the pay-per-view broadcast of UFC 204 beginning at 4 p.m. today.
Doane (14-6, 2-3) has lost three consecutive UFC fights. His last bout was a first-round submission loss to Pedro Munhoz in July.
Bektic (10-0 overall) has won all three of his UFC fights, with two coming by decision. His last bout was a second-round TKO of Lucas Martins in May 2015.
UFC 204 is headlined by a middleweight title fight between champion Michael Bisping and 46-year-old former Pride and Strikeforce world champion Dan Henderson, who knocked out Bisping at UFC 100 in 2009.
7 local surfers advance in France
Kauai’s Sebastian Zietz scored a 12.60 to edge Australia’s Adam Melling (11.34) in Round 2 of the Quiksilver Pro France in Landes, Nouvelle-Aquitaine on Friday. Maui’s Dusty Payne also competed in the second round but fell short to Stuart Kennedy, 12.00-10.50. Zietz will advance to Round 3 with Keanu Asing and John John Florence, who clinched their first round heats.
On the women’s side, local surfers Alessa Quizon and Malia Manuel tied in their Round 2 heat with a score of 10.60 at the Roxy Pro France. Since Quizon earned the highest single-wave score she advanced to Round 3 with local surfers Tatiana Weston-Webb, Coco Ho, and Carissa Moore.
Weston-Webb scored a 10.46 in the second round to beat out Bronte Macauley’s 5.50, while Ho posted a 12.60 over Bianca Buitendag’s score of 11.87. Moore automatically advanced to Round 3 with a winning score of 15.17 in the first round. The four remaining local surfers will face off in today’s Round 3 (surf permitting) — Weston-Webb and Quizon will battle in the first heat, while Ho and Moore compete in Heat 4.
