Two years ago as a senior in high school, Kamalani Dung labeled herself a YouTube pitcher.

“I never really had (any) pitching lessons or pitching experience,” the 2015 Kamehameha alumna said.

With more than a year of college coaching to develop her talent, the Fresno State sophomore has transformed herself into the ace of a team ranked in the Top 25.

Dung opened the 2017 season throwing back-to-back shutouts against Indiana and Purdue to help the Bulldogs go 4-1 at the Arizona State Kajikawa Classic last weekend.

The right-hander picked up three of those four wins and allowed only three earned runs and nine hits over 17 innings.

Fresno State, the two-time defending Mountain West Conference champion, jumped three spots to No. 21 in the first USA Today/NFCA Division I Coaches’ Poll released Tuesday.

“I think that we’re on the right path right now,” said Dung, who has a 1.24 ERA. “This is what I came here for. I knew the tradition was there and I wanted to go somewhere that I can be an impact to the team.”

Becoming top dog

The Bulldogs graduated their top pitcher from a year ago and brought in a transfer to compete with Dung for the No. 1 job.

Although it was a competition, Dung knew for a while that it was her time to take over as Fresno State’s top dog in the rotation.

“We’ve been saying that we’ve been looking for an ace, but behind the scenes, they kind of have been telling me I would get it as long as I continue to work as hard as I can for it,” Dung said.

She didn’t seem fazed by the responsibility, with two identical performances. She gave up three hits and two walks and struck out seven in both games and came back Sunday to pick up her third win in a 24-8 blowout of Stanford.

She’s already thrown half as many complete games as all of last year, when she appeared in 18 games with 11 starts and went 8-1 despite a 4.41 ERA.

“I’m such a different pitcher,” Dung said. “Even back to high school, I see girls from Hawaii come up to me and say they played against me in high school and I’m so much different than I was back then.”

Adding to her repertoire

Dung said she was basically a two-pitch pitcher in high school. Now, she’s added a rise ball, a changeup and a drop ball she’s recently developed.

“I have a bunch of new pitches up my sleeve and it’s fun,” she said.

Although she was inexperienced, Dung said she had more than 50 schools interested in her in high school. She knew she wanted to go to California and be somewhere like Hawaii, and Fresno State wound up as the lucky beneficiary to land a pitcher of Dung’s caliber.

“Fresno State was pursuing me really hard,” Dung said. “The fan support is amazing at this school and the people are so supportive and it’s a nice feeling.”

Dung is a rare player from Hawaii to wind up as the ace of a Division I pitching staff.

Setting an example

The islands do produce a fair number of college softball players, but Dung hopes she can be an example for prospects in the future to fulfill their college dreams.

“I worked really hard trying to get where I am today and I know there are a lot of good players that go unseen in Hawaii,” Dung said. “I think it’s really important to share my knowledge and share the things I have learned because it’d be amazing if I could pave the road for more softball players from Hawaii to get the opportunity that I got.”

The Bulldogs will play the first of five games in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge on Thursday against Mississippi State in Mexico.

Their first home game is Feb. 23, when they host the Bulldog Classic.

AROUND THE NATION

MEN’S BASKETBALL

>> Ikaika Phillip, ‘Iolani ’14: The Grinnell (Iowa) College junior guard had seven points and three rebounds in a 91-87 win over St. Norbert College on Saturday.

>> Tyler Van Kirk, Hawaii Prep ’13: The Oregon Tech senior forward had eight points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal in a 96-78 loss to College of Idaho on Friday.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

>> Kiki Robertson, Mid-Pacific ’13: The Alaska Anchorage guard had nine points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in a 69-48 win over Central Washington on Saturday.

>> Nayla Long, Mililani ’13: The Charleston Southern senior guard was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field and had seven points and a steal in 15 minutes off the bench of a 67-59 overtime loss to Radford on Saturday.

>> Alex Masaquel, ‘Iolani ’13: The William & Mary senior forward had eight points, 10 rebounds, six assists, a block and a steal in a 68-55 win over Towson on Sunday.

>> Casey Poe, Kamehameha-Hawaii ’14: The Whitman (Wash.) College junior point guard had nine points and nine assists with one steal, one block and one rebound in a 73-43 win over Pacific Lutheran on Saturday.

>> Maegan Martin, Maryknoll ’15: The Whitman (Wash.) sophomore forward had six points, two rebounds, two assists and a steal against Pacific Lutheran.

>> Ihi Victor, Konawaena ’16: The St. Martin’s (Wash.) freshman had 12 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals in a 59-57 loss to Western Washington on Saturday.

>> Alexis Delovio, Maryknoll ’16: The Menlo (Calif.) College freshman guard made three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points, nine assists, three rebounds and a steal in a 76-67 loss to Biola University on Saturday.

>> Celina Pagan, Sacred Hearts ’14: The Menlo (Calif.) junior guard had four points and three assists against Biola.

WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS

>> Tracie Villanueva, Moanalua ’13: The Seattle Pacific senior finished in third place on the beam with a 9.8 and scored a 9.475 on the bars in a meet on Feb. 4 and is SPU’s highest-ranked gymnast on the beam (15th) and bars (52nd) in the current USAG rankings.

>> Kristi Hayashida, Home School ’13: The Seattle Pacific senior scored a 9.675 on the beam and a 9.575 on the floor in a third-place finish against UC Davis and Air Force on Saturday.

SOFTBALL

>> Kacie Oshiro, Mililani ’13: The East Carolina senior outfielder hit .389 (7-for-18) with a double, a triple, two walks, six runs scored and three RBIs for the Pirates, who went 1-4 in the season-opening Red and Black Showcase over the weekend.

>> Jadelyn Yadao-Valdez, Mililani ’14: The UNLV junior hit .357 (5-for-14) with three runs scored and an RBI to help the Rebels go 3-2 in the Sportco Kick Off Classic over the weekend.

MEN’S SWIMMING

>> Sean Terada, Kamehameha ’13: The Whitman (Wash.) senior finished second in the 200-yard butterfly (1:52.32), third in the 200 individual medley (1:55.05) and fourth in the 100 butterfly (50.73) in individual events to help the Missionaries win their second-ever Northwest Conference Championships over the weekend. Terada also swam on the winning 400 freestyle relay team (3:06.24), the 200 freestyle relay team that came in second (1:23.96), the 400 medley relay team that finished second (3:25.34) and the 800 freestyle relay team that placed third (7:00.73).

>> Bryson Baligad, Kapaa ’15: The Pacific Lutheran sophomore finished third in the 100 backstroke (52.32), sixth in the 200 backstroke (1:56.43) and eighth in the 100 butterfly (51.91) at the NWC Championships.

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

>> Kassie Kometani, Kohala ’15: The Lewis & Clark sophomore finished second in both the 50 freestyle (24.25) and the 100 freestyle (53.17) at the NWC Championships.

>> Luna Kim, Kaiser ’15: The Pacific Lutheran sophomore finished fifth in the 100 backstroke (59.97) at the NWC Championships.

>> Melisa Kegans, ‘Iolani ’14: The Puget Sound junior finished fourth in the 100 freestyle (53.49) and fifth in the 100 butterfly (58.95) at the NWC Championships.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

>> Gabriel Vega, ‘Iolani ’12: The Stanford senior had 10 kills, four digs, a block assist and an assist in a fiveset win over UCLA last Thursday.

>> Evan Enriques, Kamehameha-Hawaii ’14: The Stanford libero had 10 digs and five assists against the Bruins.

>> Micah Ma’a, Punahou ’15: The UCLA sophomore had 31 assists, nine digs, seven kills and a block assist against the Cardinal. Ma’a added a team-high 37 assists, eight kills, eight digs, five block assists and an ace in a five-set win over Pepperdine on Saturday.

>> Emmett Enriques, Kamehameha-Hawaii ’15: The Cal Baptist sophomore had five digs and two assists in a three-set loss to Hawaii on Saturday.

>> Casey Bolda, Kaiser ’13: The Lakeland (Wisc.) senior outside hitter finished with six kills, seven digs, three aces and three block assists in a four-set win over Illinois Tech on Saturday.

>> Cullen Mosher, Kamehameha ’13: The Grand Canyon junior outside hitter hit .382 with a team-high 17 kills, four aces and four digs in a five-set win over Quincy University on Friday.

>> Sky Engleman, Moanalua ’14: The Grand Canyon junior libero had a match-high 13 digs and three assists against Quincy.

>> Puna Kaniho, Kamehameha ’13: The Grand Canyon junior played one set and had five assists against Quincy.

MEN’S WATER POLO

>> Easton Manson, Punahou ’15: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore was named to the 2016 ACWPC All-Academic Team last week.

WOMEN’S WATER POLO

>> Lauren Boyer, Punahou ’13: The UC San Diego senior scored a goal in the third period of an 8-7 win over Loyola Marymount on Saturday. Boyer had three goals and two steals in a 10-9 loss to UC Davis on Sunday and had two goals each in an 11-6 loss to UC Irvine on Saturday and a 5-4 loss to San Diego State on Sunday.

>> Kiana Harpstrite, ‘Iolani ’14: The LMU junior had three steals against UCSD.

>> Roxy Kiessling, Punahou ’14: The Claremont-Mudd Scripps junior scored a total of three goals in four matches as the Athenas finished 1-3 in the Bison Invite over the weekend.

Stats compiled by Billy Hull, Star-Advertiser. To submit an athlete for nomination, email: bhull@staradvertiser.com.