Kauai’s Bethany Hamilton will be a 2017 inductee into the Surfers’ Hall of Fame, it was announced Monday. Three-time world champion Mick Fanning also will be inducted. The ceremony will take place on Aug. 4 in front of Huntington Surf & Sport and is open to the public free of charge. Previous honorees include Hawaii’s George Downing, Andy Irons, Rabbit Kekai and Carissa Moore.
Harada hired at Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton hired Jeff Harada as its head women’s basketball coach on Monday. The Hawaii Baptist alum spent the past three seasons at Division II Central Washington, compiling a 44-42 record.
Prior to Central Washington, Harada spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Navy and was the head coach at Hawaii Pacific from 2008 to 2011. HPU won the PacWest title in 2010 and advanced to the NCAA Division II tournament.
Fullerton athletic director Jim Donovan, who was Hawaii’s AD, noted at a press conference that Harada stood out among all the candidates. The Titans were 4-25 this season. Fullerton last had a winning season in 1990-91 (25-8) and its best showing since then was 16-16 in 2006-07.
UH beach team drops to No. 6
Hawaii dropped a spot in Monday’s AVCA College Beach Volleyball Top 15, slipping from a tie for fifth to sixth.
Defending national champion USC (25-0) remained at No. 1, followed by UCLA (25-2), Pepperdine (21-3), Florida State (21-7) and Long Beach State (23-5).
The Rainbow Wahine (23-5) have a bye week and next will compete at the Big West championship tournament April 28-29 at Pismo Beach, Calif. Hawaii won the inaugural conference title last spring to advance to the inaugural NCAA championship for beach volleyball.
UH’s Hitchcock named pitcher of the week
University of Hawaii junior Brittany Hitchcock was named Big West softball pitcher of the week on Monday, the third time Hitchcock received the honor in her career.
Hitchcock allowed seven hits and no walks in 14 innings of work in 2-0 and 5-0 wins over UC Riverside. She also struck out 11 hitters in the pair of shutouts. Hitchcock improved to 16-7 this year with a 1.73 ERA in 149.1 innings pitched.
The Rainbow Wahine will return to California this week to face Cal State Fullerton in a three-game conference series starting Friday.
Kaleikini named freshman of the week
Hawaii Hilo right fielder Brinell Kaleikini was named the Pacific West Conference freshman of the week for the second week in a row, announced Monday. Kaleikini helped the Vulcans softball team clinch a doubleheader sweep over Chaminade on Saturday with a three-run homer in the sixth inning of the first game. She finished 4-for-7 with a double, a homer and four RBIs against the Silverswords.
The Moanalua graduate has started all 40 games this year and is hitting .265 with 21 runs, 21 RBIs and three home runs.
