Glovin’ every minute of it

As a scoring threat arises, playing in the outfield becomes a matter of protecting your turf.

"When there’s a runner on second we’re always saying, ‘nothing drops, nothing hits the grass,’ " said Kelly Majam, the University of Hawaii softball team’s starting center fielder.

And if a ball does happen to fall in, the Rainbow Wahine have shown they can still protect a lead.

During UH’s last road trip, all three UH outfielders —Majam, left fielder Alex Aguirre and right fielder Brynne Buchanan — came through with critical defensive plays late in tight games to help secure Rainbow Wahine victories.

Aguirre and Majam both made strong throws to the plate to cut down the potential tying run in wins at New Mexico State and Utah, and Buchanan made a tough catch on a deep fly ball to cap a win at Brigham Young last Saturday as UH went 6-1 in its 13-day stay on the mainland.

UH head coach Bob Coolen said the trio play their positions with "an understanding that they’re the last line of defense."

"I always go over that with them. (Assistant coach Kaulana Williams) does a real good job at preparing them. They have one of the best out there, she was a four-time All-WAC outfielder."

The Wahine enter this weekend’s home series with Louisiana Tech atop the league in fielding percentage, with the outfield’s range also contributing to a league-low 20 doubles surrendered.

Majam has started each of UH’s past 157 games in center field and Aguirre has been next to her in left for all but five. Sharla Kliebenstein started the first 29 games in right field this season before breaking her hand before the last road trip. While Buchanan, a junior, only has 12 career starts, practicing beside Majam and Aguirre for three seasons helped her ease into the lineup.

The experience comes into play in fielding ground balls that tend to "snake" through the outfield due to the cut of the grass, and with communication on fly balls.

"It helps because we know each other’s range really well," Aguirre said. "Kelly knows how far I can go over into her domain and I can usually tell if she’s getting a good jump on something or if I need to come over and help her.

"That kind of a dynamic is not something you can just walk right into, it’s something we’ve been building for the last couple of years."

Aguirre has three assists this season, none bigger than the game-ending play against NMSU when she fielded a sharp single and fired a throw into the glove of catcher Kayla Wartner well ahead of the tying run with two out in the bottom of the seventh of a 4-3 win.

"We’ve had a couple cool catches to end games, but never a throw-out play like that where more than one person had to be involved and it was so crucial to be on point," Aguirre said.

Majam made a similar play in the sixth inning of UH’s 7-3 win at Utah last Tuesday. She’d hit a two-run homer in the top of the inning to break a 2-2 tie, then halted a Utah rally in the bottom of the inning with a strike to the plate to cut down the tying run.

"I think it’s great for us as outfielders because we practice those throws every day," said Majam, who has 11 assists in her career. "We practice throwing home with one bounce or no bounce … but we only get it maybe twice a season. So it’s great when we have those opportunities to throw runners out and get those big plays."

Buchanan, whose previous action came mostly as a pinch runner, admitted being a little jittery in her first start at New Mexico State, where the wind and altitude can fluster outfielders. But she settled in and was later tested in the bottom of the seventh of last Saturday’s win at BYU, when she retreated on a well-hit drive and reached up to snag the ball to help preserve a 1-0 win.

"If you’re going to doubt yourself at all in any little play in the game it’s likely you’ll mess up," Buchanan said. "It’s really important to think that you’re going to catch every ball, you’re going to make the play, you’re going to get the runner out. If not, then a little fumble can change the whole game."