Garcielita rebounds; now Wahine must

Individually, Danielle Garcielita bounced back nicely from a quiet series early in the Big West season.

The University of Hawaii softball team’s leadoff hitter hopes to spark a collective resurgence this weekend following a rough road trip for the Rainbow Wahine.

Garcielita spent much of last weekend’s series at Cal State Fullerton on base, but didn’t get past third and UH was swept by the Titans — losing twice on walk-off hits last Saturday — to slip to seventh in the Big West race, five games behind Fullerton with nine to play.

UH (25-18, 4-8 Big West) return to Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium looking to get back on track in a three-game series against UC Santa Barbara (27-17, 7-5).

“It’s definitely huge motivation,” Garcielita said of last week’s losses. “I know how much we wanted both of those games, so I know it makes us very eager coming into Santa Barbara to be able to redeem ourselves.”

Charged with igniting the Hawaii offense, Garcielita raised her batting average to .316 with a 5-for-9 series at Cal State Fullerton last weekend.

Garcielita went 1-for-13 over a four-game stretch in early April, but has hit safely in the five games since. She’s hitting .467 following the mini-slump.

“It’s really easy to get in your own head playing softball because it is a sport of failure,” Garcielita said. “So it’s important to not dwell on that and dwell on that fact you are going to have other at-bats. It was really important for me knowing that I needed to be better and I wanted to be better for my team.”

Going back home to Southern California last week, Garcielita reached base in seven of her 11 plate appearances, including an intentional walk in her final turn at bat of the series.

“She had a lot of motivation, It’s her backyard,” UH coach Bob Coolen said of the 5-foot-1 center fielder from Whittier, Calif. “She showcased her maturity, her level of ability, she did it all.”

Garcielita was stranded on base and Cal State Fullerton won the series finale 1-0 in UH’s fifth one-run loss in Big West play, with three decided on walk-off hits.

The Wahine hope to bunch hits in their return to RWSS, where they’re hitting .304 in conference play compared to .240 in six road games.

UC Santa Barbara enters the series two games out of first. Sophomore right-hander Veronika Gulvin (17-10, 2.63 ERA) is tied for the league lead in wins, followed by UH junior Brittany Hitchcock (16-9, 1.86). Sophomore second baseman Sierra Altmeyer is the Big West’s second-leading hitter at .390.