Not bad for a backup plan

Academics were Angie Yoshizu’s primary concern when trying to find a college that best suited her needs.

Softball was always something she loved, but her desire to study nursing and biology and the ability to be near her sister on the East Coast is what drove her to Bloomfield College in New Jersey.

The school’s softball coach, Rocco Constantino, was equally committed to Yoshizu’s academic goals and needs and made it known those would always take priority.

Because of that, Constantino has spent the past four years coaching one of the best softball players in school history.

Yoshizu, a 2010 University High alumna, is the Deacons’ all-time hits leader with 231 and has never hit lower than .379 in a season.

She’s started all 173 games since her freshman season and is a two-time All-CCAC first team selection.

"Really surprised," Yoshizu said in a phone interview Tuesday about her success. "I wanted to keep playing, but my focus was always on academics and maybe having an opportunity to play softball.

"(Constantino) was the one coach that emailed me regularly and knew I wanted to focus on academics and was very supportive."

He did it not knowing that Yoshizu would turn out to be such a success on the field.

She serves as the team’s leadoff hitter and plays shortstop, where she’s committed only four errors in 32 games this season.

The Deacons are 18-14 after losing five of six, but are 10-9 in conference. Bloomfield has qualified for the eight-team conference tournament in each of Yoshizu’s previous three seasons, making the championship round once.

"We have a very young team that I think has shown a lot of improvement," Yoshizu said. "We’ve had some tough losses the past few weeks, but we know we have a lot of room to get better and I think overall we’ll be in the playoffs, hopefully."

Yoshizu’s greatest honor has come off the field.

In February, about a month before the season started, Yoshizu was named Bloomfield College’s woman of the year.

She was honored at a ceremony at Seton Hall University as part of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day

"I was really surprised when the athletic director actually told me," Yoshizu said. "It was a great honor and I was lucky to represent Hawaii and Bloomfield College."

Set to graduate next month, Yoshizu has gotten most of her academics done so that she can enjoy her last season of collegiate softball.

"The last two years were really rough on me, but now it’s a little bit easier, so I am able to hang out with my team a lot more," she said. "I finally can enjoy the college life a little bit.

"Better late than never, I guess."