Hawaii pipeline ends with Oshiro at East Carolina

When Kacie Oshiro followed her sister, Kristi, to East Carolina, she thought she was continuing the pipeline.

Instead, she will likely be the end of it.

The Pirates’ softball team had quite a Hawaii presence in 2013 when Oshiro graduated from Mililani. East Carolina had three players from Hawaii start at least 37 games, with Kristi Oshiro leading the team in hitting.

The team also had a new head coach, with Beth Keylon-Randolph replacing 26-year veteran Tracey Kee, who along with assistant coach Natalie Kozlowski recruited Hawaii heavily before getting dismissed in 2012.

The graduate assistant in Kee’s last year was Punahou alumna Cristen Aona, a four-year contributor to the Pirates (2007-10).

Since then, the program has gone through another coaching change and Kacie Oshiro has watched the upperclassmen from Hawaii move on with nobody new coming in.

Now a senior, Oshiro looks to be the last Hawaii softball player at East Carolina for a while.

“I know it started with Coach Kee and Coach Koz, but we’ve had a couple of coaching changes, and yeah, I’m all that’s left,” Oshiro said. “We have a freshman from Punahou (Brandee Markwith) on the volleyball team, but that’s about it.”

The softball team has had an Oshiro on the roster for seven consecutive years, with Kacie starting every game so far this season for the Pirates (16-13), who open American Conference play Friday at Memphis.

The Pirates have not had a winning record since Oshiro’s freshman year.

“We’ve had a couple of injuries here and there and the normal ups and downs of a season and we’re just working it out and doing what we can to win games,” said Oshiro, who is hitting .247 with eight doubles, two homers and 18 RBIs.

East Carolina’s roller-coaster season began with a 1-4 start in the Red and Black Showcase. The Pirates went 11-3 over their next three tournaments before losing five of their past eight.

“We don’t have that standout player, but as a team I think we’ve learned to play better together and done a better job than we have in recent years,” Oshiro said. “We’ve played a couple of tough teams and beaten a couple of tough teams, so we’re figuring it out.”

A career .261 hitter, Oshiro has already set a career high in home runs and doubles and is closing on her best RBI season.

She was responsible for two walk-off wins this season, hitting a game-winning RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning against Fordham and drawing a bases-loaded walk to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning against Youngstown State.

“That was pretty exciting,” Oshiro said. “I was happy that I was able to contribute, but a lot of it is our team and everyone doing their part to keep us in the games.”

Like the Pirates’ season, Oshiro characterizes her experience at East Carolina as up and down, but has relished in playing every game in her final season.

It also helps her knowing she has an entire team that has her back.

“Last year I didn’t get to play as much, but it was still enjoyable because even though I might not have played as much, I felt like if you didn’t start you still felt good about the person playing in front of you.

“We have a pretty solid team in back of us this year, so I don’t feel as pressured (playing every day). Maybe it might not work out every game, but I know my team has my back and we’ll pick each other up if anything happens.”