Nicole Lopez’s hectic summer only heightened her anticipation for the fall.
After claiming Big West Freshman of the Year honors in the spring, Lopez didn’t give herself much down time in the summer.
She spent a month on the mainland training with the California A’s — a prominent under-19 club program that included players from national champion Oklahoma — along with UH teammate Jennifer Iseri. Their stay included a trip north to play in the Canadian Open Fastpitch International Championship and a series against a professional team from Japan.
“It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had,” Lopez said.
“I was debating whether to go to play in Canada or to just train over the summer. I’m happy I did that. I didn’t really have a break at all this summer. I was gone for a month and right when I got back I started training already.”
Lopez carries those experiences into her sophomore season with the Hawaii softball team, which opened fall practices Monday afternoon.
A year ago, Lopez was among the newcomers adjusting to Division I softball in the fall after a standout high school career at Mid-Pacific. This time around, she’s one of the veterans on a Rainbow Wahine team welcoming 11 newcomers into the program.
“Even in our individual practices … we seem much more confident than we were last year, and all these new girls have so much talent,” Lopez said.
Lopez led the Rainbow Wahine with a .287 batting average and tied for the team lead with 23 RBIs while starting all 54 games at third base as a freshman.
Going into her sophomore year, she’s working to “get that batting average up, cut down on the strikeouts, don’t let pitchers get ahead of me.”
Collectively, the Wahine are looking to rebound from a 24-30 season and an 8-13 finish in the Big West.
The Wahine return their entire pitching staff, led by senior Kanani Aina Cabrales (8-11, 3.45 ERA) and junior Brittany Hitchcock (13-15, 2.18). While Lopez provides experience at third, UH coach Bob Coolen said the middle infield spots and all three outfield positions are open going into the fall.
“We have a lot of athletic kids, a lot of athletic freshmen coming in,” Coolen said. “We have some athletes in the system who have been showing us they can hit. Now it’s a matter of coming out and seeing what they can do on the field.”
UH returns three seniors in Aina Cabrales, outfielder Ulu Matagiese and first baseman Heather Morales and with the number of new faces on the field, Coolen plans to test the Wahine in scrimmages early on.
“The more you put them in situations, the more you’ll find out what they’re capable of and that’s what I want to do right away,” said Coolen, who will begin his 28th season at UH and 26th season as head coach in the spring.
Although the regular season is still a few months away, the fall will be a pivotal period for position battle and roster spots. The Wahine enter the fall with 25 players and Coolen plans to go into the winter with 20.
The Wahine will have about 31⁄2 weeks of practice before playing host to Chaminade and BYU Hawaii in the annual Kama’aina Tournament set for Nov. 4 and 5 at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium. The tournament will end with the alumnae game and the Wahine close the fall with a three-day trip to Maui, which will include a game against UH Hilo.
